3 Rescue Jerusalem from those enemies who have left it in ruins.Take revenge on those murderers!
4 Punish them for slaughtering innocent children and insulting you. Show how much you hate evil.
5 After Judas and his troops were ready for battle, the Lord's anger toward his people turned to mercy, and the foreigners did not stand a chance.
6 Judas burned towns and villages without warning; he captured fortresses and forced their troops to run for their lives.
7 He liked to make these attacks after dark, and soon everyone was talking about this brave warrior.
8 When Philip, the governor, found out that Judas was winning more and more victories and slowly taking over the country, he wrote a letter to Ptolemy, the royal governor of Southwest Syria Province. The letter said, “Send someone to help me protect the government of King Antiochus.”
9 At once, Ptolemy chose Nicanor, one of the king's most trusted friends. He also picked Gorgias, who was a high-ranking official and an expert in war. Then Ptolemy ordered them to take an army of more than 20,000 foreign soldiers to Judea and destroy our nation.