n. And they saw the sanctuary laid desolate, and the altar
profaned, and the gates burned, and shrubs growing in the courts as in
a forest or as on one of the mountains, and the priests' chambers
pulled down; and they rent their clothes, and made great lamentation,
and put ashes upon their heads, and fell on their faces to the ground,
and blew with the solemn trumpets, and cried toward heaven. Then Judas
appointed certain men to fight against those that were in the citadel,
until he should have cleansed the holy place.

And he chose blameless priests, such as had pleasure in the law: and
they cleansed the holy place, and bore out the stones of defilement
into an unclean place. And they took counsel concerning the altar of
burnt offerings, which had been profaned, what they should do with it:
and there came into their mind a good counsel, that they should pull
it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles
had defiled it: and they pulled down the altar, and laid up the stones
in a convenient place near the temple, until there should come a
prophet to show what should be done with them. And they took whole
stones according to the law, and built a new altar after the {439}
fashion of the former; and they built the holy place, and the inner
parts of the house; and they hallowed the courts. And they made the
holy vessels new, and they brought the candlestick, and the altar of
burnt offerings and of incense, and the table, into the temple. And
they burned incense upon the altar, and they lighted the lamps that
were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple. And they
set loaves upon the table, and spread out the veils, and finished all
the works which they made.

XII.

_How the King Himself, with an Army of 100,000 Men and a Herd of
Thirty-two Fighting Elephants Came Against Judas, and How an
Indecisive Battle Was Fought. How Eleazar Did a Brave Deed and Died in
the Doing of It_.

And when the king heard this, he was angry, and gathered together all
his Friends, even the generals of his host, and the captains of the
horse. And there came unto him from other kingdoms, and from isles of
the sea, bands of hired soldiers. And the number of his forces was a
hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and two and
thirty elephants trained for war. And they went through Idumaea, and
encamped against Bethsura, and fought against it many days, and made
engines of war; and they of