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.
46. They stored the stones in a suitable place on the temple mount, until the coming of a prophet who could determine what to do with them.
47. Then they took uncut stones, according to the law, and built a new altar like the former one.
48. They also repaired the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and consecrated the courts.
49. They made new sacred vessels and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
50. Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these illuminated the temple.
51. They also put loaves on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
52. They rose early on the morning of the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight,
53. and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar for burnt offerings that they had made.
54. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had desecrated it, on that very day it was rededicated with songs, harps, lyres, and cymbals.
55. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success.