1. Judas Maccabaeus and his friends went secretly from village to village until they had gathered a force of about 6,000 Jewish men who had remained faithful to their religion.
2. They begged the Lord to help his people, now trampled under foot by all nations, to take pity on the Temple, now defiled by pagans,
3. and to have mercy on Jerusalem, now destroyed and almost levelled to the ground.
4. They also asked the Lord to show his hatred of evil by taking revenge on those who were murdering his people, mercilessly slaughtering innocent children, and saying evil things against the Lord.
5. When Judas had finally organized his forces, the Gentiles were unable to stand against him, because the Lord's anger against Israel had now turned to mercy.
6-7. Judas would make sudden attacks on towns and villages and burn them. He captured strategic positions and routed many enemy troops, finding that he was most successful at night. People everywhere spoke of his bravery.
8. When Philip, governor of Jerusalem, realized that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his victories were becoming more and more frequent, he wrote a letter to Ptolemy, governor of Greater Syria, requesting his help in defending the royal interests.
9. Ptolemy immediately appointed Nicanor son of Patroclus, who was also in the closest circle of the King's Friends, and sent him with more than 20,000 troops of various nationalities to wipe out the entire Jewish race. Ptolemy also appointed Gorgias, a general of wide military experience, to go with him.
10. King Antiochus owed the Romans 68 tonnes of silver; Nicanor planned to pay off the debt by selling Jewish prisoners of war as slaves.
11. So he at once sent word to the towns along the coast, informing them that he would be selling Jews for less than a kilogramme of silver each. But he did not know of the judgement that Almighty God had in store for him.
12. Judas learnt that Nicanor was advancing with his army towards Judea, so he informed his men.
13. Some were cowardly and did not believe in the justice of God, and they ran away as fast as they could.