14 Others sold their property and prayed:Our Lord, please rescue your troops from that godless Nicanor. He has already started selling us as slaves, before the battle has even begun.
15 If you don't want to help us for our sake alone, then do it because of the promises you made to our ancestors. After all, you are the holy and glorious God who chose them.
16 After Judas had brought together his army of 6,000 soldiers, he encouraged them by saying:Don't be afraid and panic when you see the huge army of foreigners! They were wrong to invade our country, so fight them bravely.
17 Don't ever forget how they disgraced our holy temple, or how they brought terrible troubles to Jerusalem and refused to let us follow the customs of our ancestors.
18 They depend on their weapons and on heroic deeds to win battles. But we depend on God All-Powerful, who can wipe out these enemies and the whole world by simply shaking his head.
19 I can recall many times when God came to the rescue of our ancestors. For example, when King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked Jerusalem, he lost 185,000 soldiers.
20 On another occasion, 8,000 Jews were fighting on the side of 4,000 Macedonians who were losing a battle against the Galatians in Babylonia. God helped our troops, and they killed 120,000 enemy soldiers, then took everything of value that they wanted.