2 Then they destroyed the places where the foreigners had worshiped, including the altars they had built in the public market.
3 Judas and his followers made the temple an acceptable place of worship once again. They built a new altar for sacrifices and started a fire on it by rubbing flint rocks together. After this, they offered sacrifices for the first time in two years. They burned incense, then lit the lamps and brought out the sacred loaves of bread.
4 When all of this was done, the troops lay face down on the ground and prayed, “Our Lord, please don't let us suffer such terrible troubles again. If we should ever turn from you, don't correct us so harshly. And please, never again hand us over to these foreign savages, who insult you.”
5 The dedication of the temple took place on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev—the same day of the same month that the foreigners had made the temple unfit for worship.
6 We celebrated a joyful festival for eight days, and it was just like the Festival of Shelters. In fact, while our people celebrated, they kept remembering the recent Festival of Shelters, when they were forced to roam the hills and live in caves like wild animals.
7 But now they walked around carrying sticks decorated with twisted ivy and holding up branches, including some from palm trees. They sang hymns and thanked the Lord for making our holy temple clean again.
8 Afterwards, everyone decided to make this a yearly festival for our whole nation.