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.
21 These stories encouraged the troops and made them willing to die for their faith and their nation.Judas now divided his army into four groups
22 of 1,500 soldiers each. He and his brothers Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan each took command of one group.
23 Then he told Eleazar to read the Scriptures to the troops, and Judas ordered them to go into battle shouting, “God will help us!” Judas himself led the first group into the battle against Nicanor.
24 God All-Powerful helped our forces kill more than 9,000 of Nicanor's soldiers. They wounded many more and forced the rest of them to run for their lives.
25 When the fighting was over, they took the money from those who had come to buy them as slaves. Then they chased after the rest of Nicanor's army for a long way. But when evening came, they had to return,