(42) Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,

(43) And every one should leave his laws: so all the people of the land* agreed according to the commandment of the king.

(44) Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed to idols, and profaned the sabbath.

(45) For the king had sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that they should follow the ways [or, laws] of the foreigners of the land,

(46) And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:

(47) And pollute the sanctuary and the priests, and to set up altars, and temples to idols [or, "little gods"], and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and every unclean beast:

(48) That he also commanded that they should their male children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation: To the end they might transgress the ordinaces of God, and change all their ways.

(49) And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

(50) In the selfsame manner wrote he to his whole kingdom, and appointed overseers over all the people, commanding the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city.

(51) Then many of the people were gathered unto them, to wit every one that forsook the law; and so they committed evils in the land;

(52) And drove the Israelites, and they hid themselves in caves, and in every sort of place where they could find succor.

(53) Now the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side;

(54) And burnt incense at the doors of their houses, and in the streets. And when they had rent in pieces the books of the law which they found, they burnt them with fire.

(55) And whosoever was found with any the book of the testament, or if any committed to the law, the king’s commandment was, that they should put him to death.

(56) Thus did they by their authority unto the Israelites every month, to as many as were found in the cities.

(57) Now the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God.

(58) At which time according to the commandment they put to death certain women, that had caused their children to be circumcised.

(59) And they hanged the infants about their necks, and rifled their houses, and slew them that had circumcised them.

(60) Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing.

(61) Wherefore the rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then they died

(62) And there was very great wrath upon Israel.

(1) In those days arose Mattathias the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem, and dwelt in Modin.

(2) And he had five sons, Joannan, called Caddis:

(3) Simon; called Thassi: Judas, who was called Maccabeus:

(4) Eleazar, called Avaran: and Jonathan, whose surname was Apphus.

(5) And when he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Juda and Jerusalem,

(6) He said, Woe is me! wherefore was I born to see this misery of my people, and of the holy city, and to dwell there, when it was delivered into the hand of the enemy, and the sanctuary into the hand of strangers?

(7) Her temple is become as a man without glory.

(8) Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants are slain in the streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy.

(9) What nation hath not had a part in her kingdom and gotten of her spoils?

(10) All her ornaments are taken away; of a free woman she is become a bondslave.

(11) And, behold, our sanctuary, even our beauty and our glory, is laid waste, and the Gentiles have profaned it.

(12) To what end therefore shall we live any longer?

(13) Then Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, and put on sackcloth, and mourned very sore.

(14) In the mean while the king’s officers, such as compelled the people to revolt, came into the city Modin, to make them sacrifice.

(15) And when many of Israel came unto them, Mattathias also and his sons came together.

(16) Then answered the king’s officers, and said to Mattathias on this wise,

(17) Thou art a ruler, and an honourable and great man in this city, and strengthened with sons and brethren: Now therefore come thou first, and fulfil the king’s commandment, like as all the heathen have done, yea, and the men of Juda also, and such as remain at Jerusalem:

(18) so shalt thou and thy house be in the number of the king’s friends, and thou and thy children shall be honoured with silver and gold, and many rewards.

(19) Then Mattathias answered and spake with a loud voice,

(20) Though all the nations that are under the king’s dominion obey him, and fall away every one from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his commandments:

(21) Yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers.

(22) God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances.

(23) We will not hearken to the king’s words, to go from our religion, either on the right hand, or the left.

(24) Now when he had left speaking these words, there came one of the Jews in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment.

(25) Which thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins trembled, neither could he forbear to shew his anger according to judgment:

(26) wherefore he ran, and slew him upon the altar. Also the king’s commissioner, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and the altar he pulled down.

(27) Thus dealt he zealously for the law of God like as Phinees did unto Zambri the son of Salom.

(28) And Mattathias cried throughout the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me.

(29) So he and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that ever they had in the city.

(30) Then many that sought after justice and judgment went down into the wilderness,

(31) to dwell there: Both they, and their children, and their wives; and their cattle; because afflictions increased sore upon them.

(35) And Judah spoke, and his brothers, before the people, saying,

(36) Behold, the enemy is struck before us, now let us go up and purify the Sanctuary of Adonai.

(37) All them men of the army gathered, and they went together up to Mount Zion.

(38) And it was that when they saw the Holy Temple desolate, and the altar profaned, and that doors burned with fires and the courts destroyed, and grasses of the field sprouting all over it.

(39) They tore their clothes and threw dirt on their heads and made a great mourning.

(40) They blew blasts on the trumpets and fell on their faces and their cry reached the heavens.

(41) And Judah commanded one troop of his men to lay siege to the fortress until they had purified the Holy Temple.

(42) And he chose from among the priests who had not been defiled and who had not abandoned the covenant of their Gd, and he commanded them to purify the Holy Temple and the throw the stones which had been defiled in an unclean place.

(43) And they saw that the altar of the offering had been profaned, and they took heart counsel together in order to decide what to do.

(44) And they plan which they devised was to pull it down altogether, in order that it not be a stumbling block for them since foreigners had profaned it. And they tore it down.

(45) And they placed the stones on the Temple mount in a certain place, until a prophet would stand up among Israel and teach them what was to be done.

(46) And they took whole stones which iron had never touched, as is written in the Torah of the Lord, and they built a new altar in the likeness of the first one.

(47) And they repaired the breaches in the Holy Temple, and all that which was within the sanctuary, and they sanctified the courtyard and all that was in it.

(48) And they renewed all the sacred vessels, and placed the menorah, the incense altar and the table of the show bread back in the Temple.

(49) And they placed the incense on the altar, and lit the lamps upon the menorah in order to light the Sanctuary.

(50) And they placed the show bread on the table, and the dividing curtain before the ark, and all the work was completed as in the beginning.

(51) And it was on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year that they rose early in the morning and offered the whole offering on the new altar according to its laws.

(52) And they dedicated the altar on the very day that the foreigners had defiled it, and they gave praise to the Lord with song, harps, pipes and cymbals.

(53) And they fell on their faces and prostrated themselves to the Lord because He had given them might and salvation.

(54) And they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and brought up whole offerings, and thanksgiving offerings in the joy of their hearts.

(55) And they glorified the face of the sanctuary with crowns and shields of gold and purified the gates and the courts of the priests, and replaced the doors.

(56) And there was great rejoicing among all the people, because the Lord had rolled back the disgrace of the nations from upon them.

(57) And Yehudah, his brothers and all the community of Israel commanded to celebrate the dedication of the altar on the twenty-fifth day of month of Kislev, eight days each year, with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

(3) On six months messengers go out: On Nisan, because of Pesach; On Av, because of the fast; On Elul, because of Rosh Hashnanah; On Tishrei, to correct for the festivals; On Kislev, because of Chanukah; On Adar, because of Purim; And when the Temple existed, they also went out on Iyar, because of the little Pesach.

(10) Public fasts are not to be ordered to take place on the feast of new moon, nor on that of dedication and of lots [pureem]; but if the fast has been already commenced thereon, it need not be broken. Such is the opinion of Rabbon Gamaliel. Rabbi Meir says, "Although Rabbon Gamaliel has said that the fast need not be broken, he agrees that on these days they are not to fast the whole of the day; and thus is it with the [fast of the] ninth of Av, when it happens on a Friday."

(4) When the new moon of Adar happens on a Sabbath, the section Shekalim (Exod. 30:11), is to be read; if it happen on any other day, that section must he read on the preceding Sabbath, and nothing additional is read on the following Sabbath. On the second, the section ‏of Zachor (Deut. 15:14), is to be read; on the third, that of the red heifer, ‏ Parah (Num. 19); on the fourth, that of ‏Hachodesh (Exod. 17); on the fifth, they return again to the regular order. The regular order [of parashot] is also interrupted on Rosh Chodesh, on Chanukah, on Purim, on fasts, and on Yom Kippur.

(9) On Rashei Chodashim [the first day of the new month, on which special prayers and sacrifices are offered], on Chanukah, and on Purim [women] may wail and clap, but must not sing lamentations. When the corpse is interred, they may neither wailing nor clap. What is "wailing"? When all of them wail as one. "Sing lamentations": when one recites and all of the others respond after her, as it is said, "Teach your daughters wailing and a woman her fellow a lamentation," (Jeremiah 9:19). But in the future to come he [Isaiah] says, "He will swallow death for ever, and Lord God will erase tears from all faces, etc.," (Isaiah 25:8).