27. but when he heard thereof, he was confounded and discouraged, because neither had such things as he would been done to Israel, nor had such things as the king commanded him come to pass.
28. And in the next year he gathered together threescore thousand chosen footmen, and five thousand horse, that he might subdue them.
29. And they came into Idumaea, and encamped at Bethsura; and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
30. And he saw that the army was strong, and he prayed and said, Blessed are you, O Saviour of Israel, who did quell the onset of the mighty man by the hand of your servant David, and did deliver the army of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul, and of his armor bearer:
31. shut up this army in the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed for their host and their horsemen:
32. give them faintness of heart, and cause the boldness of their strength to melt away, and let them quake at their destruction:
33. cast them down with the sword of them that love you, and let all that know your name praise you with thanksgiving.
34. And they joined battle; and there fell of the army of Lysias about five thousand men, and they fell down over against them.
35. But when Lysias saw that his array was put to flight, and the boldness that had come upon them that were with Judas, and how they were ready either to live or to die nobly, he removed to Antioch, and gathered together hired soldiers, that he might come again into Judaea with even a greater company.
36. But Judas and his brethren said, Behold, our enemies are discomfited: let us go up to cleanse the holy place, and to dedicate it afresh.
37. And all the army was gathered together, and they went up to mount Sion.
38. And they saw the sanctuary laid desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or as on one of the mountains, and the priests’ chambers pulled down;
39. and they tore their clothes, and made great lamentation, and put ashes upon their heads,
40. and fell on their faces to the ground, and blew with the solemn trumpets, and cried toward heaven.
41. Then Judas appointed certain men to fight against those that were in the citadel, until he should have cleansed the holy place.
42. And he chose blameless priests, such as had pleasure in the law: