36. Then Judas and his brothers said: "Behold, our enemies have been crushed. Let us go up now to cleanse and renew the holy places."
37. And all the army gathered together, and they ascended to Mount Zion.
38. And they saw the sanctuary deserted, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned, and weeds growing up in the courts, as in a forest or as on the mountains, and the adjoining chambers demolished.
39. And they rent their garments, and they made a great wailing, and they placed ashes on their heads.
40. And they fell to the ground on their faces, and they sounded the trumpets of alarm, and they cried out toward heaven.
41. Then Judas numbered men to fight against those who were in the stronghold, until they had cleansed the holy places.
42. And he chose priests without blemish, whose will held to the law of God.
43. And they cleansed the holy places, and they took away the stones of defilement to an unclean place.
44. And he considered the altar of holocausts, which had been profaned, as to what he should do with it.
45. And a good counsel fell upon them, to destroy it, lest it might become a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it; so they demolished it.
46. And they stored the stones in the mountain house, in a fitting place, until there should come a prophet, who would provide an answer about these.