39 Judas and his soldiers grieved terribly. They tore their clothes, then threw ashes on their heads
40 and lay face down on the ground. A trumpet was blown, and they began praying out loud to their God.
41 Judas ordered some of his soldiers to keep the enemy fortress under attack, so that others could clean up the temple.
42 He chose honest and faithful priests
43 and put them in charge of cleaning out the temple.The priests hauled away the unclean stones to a garbage heap.
44-45 And they wondered what to do about the altar for offering sacrifices, because it had been polluted by the Gentiles who had sacrificed unclean animals on it. Finally, they decided to remove this disgrace by tearing down the altar and hauling away the stones.
46 They piled them in a special place on the temple hill, believing that God would someday send a prophet who would know what to do with them.