2 Maccabees 15

1 Nicanor learned that Judas and his men were in the country around Samaria, and he decided to fall on them on the day of rest, where there would be no risk at all. [a] 2 But the Jews who were forced to march with him said, “Do not destroy them so savagely and barbarously. Give honor instead to the day that the One who watches over all things has honored above the rest and made holy.”

3 Then that thrice-wretched man asked whether there is a Sovereign in heaven who has given orders to keep the Sabbath day. [b] 4 They declared, “There is a living Lord, and he himself is Sovereign in heaven, and he is the one who commanded us to keep the seventh day.” 5 The other said, “And I am a sovereign on earth, and I give the order to take up arms and carry out the king’s business.” All the same, he did not manage to carry out his cruel plan.

6 Nicanor, boasting with his neck held high, had settled on setting up a public monument of victory over Judas and his men. 7 But Maccabeus never once stopped trusting, with every hope, that he would find help from the Lord. 8 He urged the men with him not to be frightened at the coming of the nations, but to keep in mind the help that had come to them from heaven before, and now to look for the victory that would come to them from the Almighty. [c] 9 Comforting them out of the law and the prophets, and reminding them besides of the struggles they had already come through, he made them more eager. 10 And when he had stirred up their spirits he gave them their orders, showing them at the same time the faithlessness of the nations and their breaking of oaths. 11 He armed each of them not so much with the safety of shields and spears as with the encouragement of good words; and besides that he told them a dream worth believing, something like a waking vision, and it gladdened them all.

12 This was what he had seen. Onias, who had been chief priest — a fine and good man, modest in the way he met people, gentle in his manner, well spoken, and trained from childhood in everything that belongs to a good life — was holding out his hands and praying for the whole body of the Jews. [d] 13 Then in the same way there appeared a man marked out by gray hair and glory, and there was a wonderful and most magnificent dignity about him. 14 And Onias spoke and said, “This is the one who loves his brothers, who prays much for the people and for the holy city — Jeremiah, the prophet of God.”

15 Then Jeremiah held out his right hand and handed Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he said this: 16 “Take this holy sword, a gift from God. With it you will shatter your adversaries.”

17 They were heartened by Judas’s words — very fine words, able to spur men to courage and to make young men’s souls manly — and they decided not to make a campaign of it, but to bear down bravely, to close with the enemy with all courage and settle the matter, because the city and the holy place and the temple were in danger. [e] 18 For their fear for wives and children, and for brothers and relatives, weighed less with them; the greatest and first fear was for the sanctuary that had been made holy. 19 And for those shut up in the city there was no small anguish either: they were troubled about the attack out in the open.

20 Now everyone was waiting for the decision to come. The enemy had already closed in, the army was drawn up in line, the beasts had been placed where they would be useful, and the cavalry was stationed on the wing. 21 Maccabeus took in the presence of the crowds, the mixed gear of their weapons, and the fierceness of the beasts. He stretched out his hands toward heaven and called on the Lord who works wonders, knowing that it does not go by weapons: as he judges best, so he grants the victory to those who deserve it. 22 He called on him and said this: [f]

And he ended there.

25 Nicanor and his men came on with trumpets and battle songs. 26 But Judas and his men closed with the enemy with calling on God and with prayers. 27 Fighting with their hands and praying to God with their hearts, they laid low no fewer than thirty-five thousand men, greatly gladdened by God’s appearing. [h]

28 When they had come away from the work and were breaking up with joy, they recognized Nicanor lying fallen in his full armor. 29 There was shouting and uproar, and they blessed the Sovereign in the language of their fathers. [i] 30 Then the man who had been in every way the first champion, body and soul, for his fellow citizens — the man who had kept the goodwill of his young years for his own people — gave orders to cut off Nicanor’s head and his hand with the shoulder, and to carry them to Jerusalem.

31 When he got there he called his countrymen together, set the priests in front of the altar, and sent for the men from the citadel. 32 He showed them the head of the vile Nicanor, and the hand of that reviler which he had stretched out and boasted with against the holy house of the Almighty. 33 He cut out the tongue of the godless Nicanor and said he would give it to the birds piece by piece, and hang up the wages of his folly opposite the sanctuary. [j]

34 And they all blessed toward heaven the Lord who shows himself, saying, “Blessed is the one who has kept his own place undefiled.” 35 He hung Nicanor’s head from the citadel, a plain and clear sign to everyone of the Lord’s help. [k] 36 And they all decreed by a common vote never to let this day go unmarked, but to keep the thirteenth of the twelfth month as a marked day — it is called Adar in the Syrian tongue — the day before Mordecai’s day. [l]

37 So this is how it went with Nicanor. And since from that time on the city has been held by the Hebrews, I will bring my account to an end here myself. [m] 38 If it is well told and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is cheap and middling, that was all I could manage. 39 For just as it does harm to drink wine by itself, and water again the same, while wine mixed with water is pleasant and finishes with a delightful taste — so it is with the shaping of a story: it delights the ears of those who take up the book. And here shall be the end.