33 Our God, we love you. Please let us slaughter our enemies. Then all of your worshipers will praise you with songs.
34 The two armies moved forward, and in the battle, Lysias lost 5,000 soldiers.
35 As he watched his army falling apart, he said to himself, “Those Jews are brave fighters, who live and die with honor.”Lysias returned to the city of Antioch and hired some foreign soldiers, so he could invade Judea with an even stronger army.
36 Judas and his brothers said, “Now that we've defeated our enemies, let's make the temple an acceptable place for worship and dedicate it to the Lord once again.”
37 So the entire army went to Mount Zion.
38 They saw the deserted temple and the unclean altar, where the Gentiles had sacrificed unfit animals. The temple's doors had been burned, and the priests' rooms were damaged. Tall bushes and weeds were growing in the temple courtyard, making it look like a forest or a mountain.
39 Judas and his soldiers grieved terribly. They tore their clothes, then threw ashes on their heads