1. In truth, Judas Maccabeus, and those who were with him, went secretly into the villages, and, calling together their relatives and friends, and accepting among them those who persevered in Judaism, they brought six thousand men together.
2. And they called upon the Lord: to look upon his people, who were down trodden by all; and to take pity on the temple, which was defiled by the impius;
3. and even to take pity on the city by utter destruction, for it was willing to be immediately leveled to the ground; and to hear the voice of the blood that was crying out to him,