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Purification and Rededication of the Temple. 36 (A)Then Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary[a] and rededicate it.” 37 So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:36 The sanctuary: the whole Temple area with its walls, courts and outbuildings, to be distinguished from the Temple proper, the oblong edifice with porch, main room and inner shrine.

52 They rose early on the morning of the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight,[a] 53 and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar for burnt offerings that they had made.(A) 54 On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had desecrated it, on that very day it was rededicated with songs, harps, lyres, and cymbals. 55 All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success.

56 For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. 57 They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors. 58 There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed. 59 Then Judas and his brothers and the entire assembly of Israel decreed that every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev,(B) the days of the dedication[b] of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:52 Twenty-fifth day of the ninth month…in the year one hundred and forty-eight: December 14, 164 B.C.
  2. 4:59 Days of the dedication: institution of the feast of Hanukkah, also called the feast of Dedication (Jn 10:22). Josephus calls it the feast of Lights (Ant. 12:325).