Part 610 (1/2)

3:7. And he grieved many kings, and made Jacob glad with his works, and his memory is blessed for ever.

3:8. And he went through the cities of Juda, and destroyed the wicked out of them, and turned away wrath from Israel.

3:9. And he was renowned even to the utmost part of the earth, and he gathered them that were peris.h.i.+ng.

3:10. And Apollonius gathered together the Gentiles, and a numerous and great army from Samaria, to make war against Israel.

3:11. And Judas understood it, and went forth to meet him: and he overthrew him, and killed him: and many fell down slain, and the rest fled away.

3:12. And he took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and fought with it all his lifetime.

3:13. And Seron, captain of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had a.s.sembled a company of the faithful, and a congregation with him,

3:14. And he said I will get me a name, and will be glorified in the kingdom, and will overthrow Judas, and those that are with him, that have despised the edict of the king.

3:15. And he made himself ready; and the host of the wicked went up with him, strong succours, to be revenged of the children of Israel.

3:16. And they approached even as far as Bethoron: and Judas went forth to meet him, with a small company.

3:17. But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: How shall we, being few, be able to fight against so great a mult.i.tude, and so strong, and we are ready to faint with fasting today?

3:18. And Judas said: It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the G.o.d of heaven to deliver with a great mult.i.tude, or with a small company:

3:19. For the success of war is not in the mult.i.tude of the army, but strength cometh from heaven.

3:20. They come against us with an insolent mult.i.tude, and with pride, to destroy us, and our wives, and our children, and to take our spoils.

3:21. But we will fight for our lives, and our laws:

3:22. And the Lord himself will overthrow them before our face, but as for you, fear them not.

3:23. And as soon as he had made an end of speaking, he rushed suddenly upon them: and Seron, and his host were overthrown before him:

3:24. And he pursued him by the descent of Bethoron, even to the plain, and there fell of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.

3:25. And the fear of Judas, and of his brethren, and the dread of them, fell upon all the nations round about them.

3:26. And his fame came to the king, and all nations told of the battles of Judas.

3:27. Now when king Antiochus heard these words, he was angry in his mind: and he sent, and gathered the forces of all his kingdom, an exceeding strong army.

3:28. And he opened his treasury, and gave out pay to the army for a year: and he commanded them, that they should be ready for all things.

3:29. And he perceived that the money of his treasures failed, and that the tributes of the country were small, because of the dissension, and the evil that he had brought upon the land, that he might take away the laws of old times:

3:30. And he feared that he should not have as formerly enough for charges and gifts, which he had given before with a liberal hand: for he had abounded more than the kings that had been before him.

3:31. And he was greatly perplexed in mind, and purposed to go into Persia, and to take tributes of the countries, and to gather much money.

3:32. And he left Lysias, a n.o.bleman of the blood royal to oversee the affairs of the kingdom from the river Euphrates even to the river of Egypt: