31. Give this army into the hands of your people Israel; make them ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.
32. Strike them with cowardice, weaken the boldness of their strength, and let them tremble at their own destruction.
33. Strike them down by the sword of those who love you, that all who know your name may sing your praise.”
34. Then they engaged in battle, and about five thousand of Lysias’ army fell in hand-to-hand fighting.
35. When Lysias saw the tide of the battle turning, and the increased boldness of Judas, whose men were ready either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew to Antioch and began to recruit mercenaries so as to return to Judea with greater numbers.
36. Then Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”
37. So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.
38. They found the sanctuary desolate, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt, weeds growing in the courts as in a thicket or on some mountain, and the priests’ chambers demolished.
39. Then they tore their garments and made great lamentation; they sprinkled their heads with ashes
40. and prostrated themselves. And when the signal was given with trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.
41. Judas appointed men to attack those in the citadel, while he purified the sanctuary.
42. He chose blameless priests, devoted to the law;
43. these purified the sanctuary and carried away the stones of the defilement to an unclean place.
44. They deliberated what ought to be done with the altar for burnt offerings that had been desecrated.
45. They decided it best to tear it down, lest it be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it; so they tore down the altar.