Nicanor's Cruel Plan

¹Nicanor learned that Judas and his men were in the region of Samaria, and so he decided to attack them on a Sabbath, when he could do so without any danger to himself.

²The Jews who were forced to accompany his army begged him not to do such a cruel and savage thing, but to respect the day that the all-seeing God had honored and made the most holy of all days.

³Then Nicanor, the lowest creature on earth, asked if there was some sovereign ruler in heaven who had commanded them to honor the Sabbath.

⁴And the Jews replied, Yes; the living Lord, who rules in heaven, commanded us to honor the Sabbath.

⁵But Nicanor answered, I am the ruler on earth, and I order you to take up your weapons and to do what the king commands. However, he did not succeed in carrying out his cruel plan.

Judas Prepares His Troops for Battle

⁶In his arrogance Nicanor had boasted that he would set up a monument in honor of his victory over Judas.

⁷But Judas was fully confident that the Lord would help him,

⁸so he urged his men not to be afraid of the enemy. He encouraged them to remember how the Almighty had helped them in times past and to rest assured that he would give them victory this time also.

⁹He renewed their hope by reading to them from the Law and the Prophets and by reminding them of the battles they had already won.

¹⁰When his men were ready for battle, he gave them their orders and at the same time pointed out how the Gentiles could not be trusted, because they never kept their treaties.

¹¹He armed all his men, not by encouraging them to trust in shields and spears, but by inspiring them with courageous words. He also lifted their morale by telling them about his dream, a kind of vision that they could trust in.

¹²He told them that he had seen a vision of Onias, the former High Priest, that great and wonderful man of humble and gentle disposition, who was an outstanding orator and who had been taught from childhood how to live a virtuous life. With outstretched arms Onias was praying for the entire Jewish nation.

¹³Judas then saw an impressive white-haired man of great dignity and authority.

¹⁴Onias said: This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves the Jewish people and offers many prayers for us and for Jerusalem, the holy city.

¹⁵Then Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave Judas a gold sword, saying as he did so,

¹⁶This holy sword is a gift from God. Take it and destroy your enemies.

¹⁷The eloquent words that Judas spoke encouraged everyone to be brave, and inspired boys to fight like men. Their city, their religion, and their Temple were in danger. So the Jews made up their minds not to waste any time, but to make a daring attack against the enemy and bravely decide their fate in hand-to-hand combat.

¹⁸They were not so concerned about their own families and relatives as they were about their sacred Temple.

¹⁹And the people who had to stay in Jerusalem were deeply concerned about how a battle on open ground would turn out.

The Defeat and Death of Nicanor

²⁰Everyone was waiting to see who would win the battle. The enemy troops were already moving forward, with their cavalry on each side of them, and their elephants placed in strategic positions.

²¹Judas Maccabeus looked at the huge enemy force, the variety of their weapons, and their fierce elephants. Then he raised his hands toward heaven and prayed to the Lord, who works miracles, because he knew that the Lord gives victory to those who deserve it, not to those who have a strong army.

²²Judas said: Lord, when Hezekiah was king of Judah, you sent your angel, who killed 185,000 of King Sennacherib's men.

²³Now once again, Lord of heaven, send your good angel to make our enemies shake and tremble with fear.

²⁴With your great power, destroy these people who have slandered you and have come out to attack your chosen people. So Judas ended his prayer.

²⁵Nicanor and his army moved forward to the sound of trumpets and battle songs,

²⁶but Judas and his men went into battle calling on God for help.

²⁷So by fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, the Jews killed more than 35,000 of the enemy. How grateful they were for the help they had received from God!

²⁸When the battle was over and they were going home celebrating their victory, they noticed Nicanor in full armor lying dead on the battlefield.

²⁹Then with loud shouts they praised the Lord in their native language.

³⁰Judas Maccabeus, who had always fought with all his body and soul for his own people, never losing the patriotism of his youth, ordered his men to cut off Nicanor's head and right arm and to take them to Jerusalem.

³¹When they arrived in the city, he called together all the people, stationed the priests before the altar, and sent for the men in the fort.

³²He showed them the head of the evil Nicanor and the arm which that wicked man had arrogantly stretched out against the sacred Temple of the Almighty God.

³³Then he cut out the tongue of that godless man, promising to feed it bit by bit to the birds and to hang up his head opposite the Temple, as evidence of what his foolishness did for him.

³⁴Everyone there looked up to heaven and praised the Lord, who had revealed his power and had kept his Temple from being defiled.

³⁵Judas hung Nicanor's head from the wall of the fort, as a clear proof to everyone of the Lord's help.

³⁶By unanimous vote it was decided that this day would never be forgotten, but would be celebrated each year on the eve of Mordecai's Day, which is the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic.

Concluding Words

³⁷That is how things turned out for Nicanor. The city of Jerusalem remained in the possession of the Jewish people from that time on, so I will end my story here.

³⁸If it is well written and to the point, I am pleased; if it is poorly written and uninteresting, I have still done my best.

³⁹We know it is unhealthy to drink wine or water alone, whereas wine mixed with water makes a delightfully tasty drink. So also a good story skillfully written gives pleasure to those who read it. With this I conclude.

The Suicidal Stupidity of the Egyptians

¹But the godless continued to feel your pitiless anger until the very end. You knew what they would do before they did it.

²You knew that even though they let your people go and made them leave quickly, they would change their minds and pursue them.

^3-4While the Egyptians were still mourning at the graves of their dead, they forgot why all this had happened, and they foolishly decided that the people they had begged to leave were runaways. So they chased after them. They were led into this as part of the punishment they deserved, so that they would suffer the rest of the torments they were due to receive.

⁵They were to meet a strange death, while your people continued on their miraculous journey.

God Guides and Protects His People

⁶The whole nature of the universe was changed at your command so that your people would not be harmed.

⁷They saw the cloud over their camp and dry land where water had been. There was a grass-covered plain between the stormy waves of the Red Sea, making it easy for them to cross over.

⁸All your people, under your protection, saw this miracle and went across.

⁹They pranced about like horses let out to pasture; they skipped about like lambs and praised you, Lord, for saving them.

¹⁰They still remembered what life had been like when they were slaves—how the earth bred gnats instead of cattle, how the river produced huge numbers of frogs instead of fish.

^11-12Later, when they desperately wanted better food, quails came up from the sea to satisfy their hunger. The quail was a bird they had never seen before.

The Punishment of the Egyptians

¹³But violent thunder gave warning of the punishment that was coming on those sinners. They suffered a well-deserved punishment for their great wickedness. No nation had ever hated strangers so bitterly.

¹⁴Other people had been known to refuse welcome to strangers who came to them, but these people made slaves of those who were their guests and who had shown them kindness.

¹⁵Every nation will be punished if it does not welcome foreigners,

¹⁶but these people, who had earlier welcomed the foreigners with happy celebrations and treated them as equals, later made them suffer cruelly.

¹⁷These people were also struck with blindness, like the men of Sodom who came to the door of that righteous man Lot. They found themselves in total darkness, as each one groped around to find his own door.

God's Miraculous Power

¹⁸On a harp each string keeps its own pitch, but each sound can be combined with others to make different melodies. That is how it was in those days, when the very elements entered into new combinations. Look at what happened!

¹⁹Land animals took to the water, and swimming creatures came up on the land.

²⁰Fire burned even in water, which could not put it out.

²¹And yet the flames could not burn the flesh of the perishable creatures walking in them and did not melt that heavenly food that would ordinarily have melted like frost.

²²Lord, you have made your people great—glorious in all respects. You have never neglected them. You have given them help, always, everywhere.

²¹If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink.

²²You will make them burn with shame, and the Lord will reward you.

²³Gossip brings anger just as surely as the north wind brings rain.