11 We thank God because he has rescued us from King Antiochus, who put us in dreadful danger.
12 The king's troops attacked our holy city of Jerusalem, but God forced him to retreat.
13-14 Antiochus then invaded Persia with an army that seemed too powerful for anyone to defeat. He and his trusted friends went into the temple of the goddess Nanea, where Antiochus lied and said he planned to marry her. But all he really wanted were the temple treasures that he would receive as wedding gifts.The priests of the temple made a clever plan to kill Antiochus.
15 They set out the treasures, and when Antiochus and a few of his friends entered the temple, the priests immediately locked the doors behind him.
16 Then they killed him and his friends by dropping heavy stones on them from a trap door in the roof. Afterwards, the priests chopped the dead bodies into pieces and tossed the heads to the people outside.
17 Let's always praise our God for punishing these wicked enemies!
18 On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev, we will celebrate the Temple Festival. We think you need to know this, so you can celebrate it just as you celebrate the Festival of Shelters and the Festival of Fire.This Festival of Fire goes back to Nehemiah, who rebuilt the temple and its altar, then offered sacrifices.