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,
4. so that he would remember also the most iniquitous deaths of the innocent little ones, and the blasphemies brought upon his name; and to show his indignation over these things.
5. And so Maccabeus, having gathered together a multitude, could not be withstood by the Gentiles. For the wrath of the Lord had turned into mercy.
6. And so, overwhelming the towns and cities unexpectedly, he set them on fire. And, occupying strategic positions, he made no small slaughter of the enemies.
7. Moreover, especially in the nights, he carried out expeditions in this way. And the fame of his virtuous strength was spread abroad everywhere.
8. Then Philip, seeing that the man gained ground little by little, and that things frequently fell out in his favor, wrote to Ptolemy, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to send auxiliaries to carry out the work of the king.
9. And so, he quickly sent Nicanor, son of Patroclus, from his foremost friends, providing him with no less than twenty thousand armed men from throughout the Gentiles, to wipe out the entire race of the Jews, joining with him Gorgias, a military man with very great experience in the things of warfare.