The Battle at Emmaus

4 Now Gor′gias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night ² to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides. ³ But Judas heard of it, and he and his mighty men moved out to attack the king’s force in Emma′us ⁴ while the division was still absent from the camp. ⁵ When Gor′gias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, “These men are fleeing from us.”

⁶ At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired. ⁷ And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry round about it; and these men were trained in war. ⁸ But Judas said to the men who were with him, “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge. ⁹ Remember how our fathers were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them. ¹⁰ And now let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our fathers and crush this army before us today. ¹¹ Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.”

¹² When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them, ¹³ they went forth from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets ¹⁴ and engaged in battle. The Gentiles were crushed and fled into the plain, ¹⁵ and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazar′a, and to the plains of Idume′a, and to Azo′tus and Jam′nia; and three thousand of them fell. ¹⁶ Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them, ¹⁷ and he said to the people, “Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us; ¹⁸ Gor′gias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterward seize the plunder boldly.”

¹⁹ Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, coming out of the hills. ²⁰ They saw that their army^[a] had been put to flight, and that the Jews^[b] were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened. ²¹ When they perceived this they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle, ²² they all fled into the land of the Philistines. ²³ Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized much gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches. ²⁴ On their return they sang hymns and praises to Heaven, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever. ²⁵ Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸ till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph. ¹⁹ He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, that they might not be kept alive. ²⁰ At this time Moses was born, and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house; ²¹ and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

²³ “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶ And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷ But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ At this retort Moses fled, and became an exile in the land of Mid′ian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³ And the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

First Campaign of Lysias

²⁶ Those of the foreigners who escaped went and reported to Lys′ias all that had happened. ²⁷ When he heard it, he was perplexed and discouraged, for things had not happened to Israel as he had intended, nor had they turned out as the king had commanded him. ²⁸ But the next year he mustered sixty thousand picked infantrymen and five thousand cavalry to subdue them. ²⁹ They came into Idume′a and encamped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.

³⁰ When he saw that the army was strong, he prayed, saying, “Blessed art thou, O Savior of Israel, who didst crush the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of thy servant David, and didst give the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and of the man who carried his armor. ³¹ So do thou hem in this army by the hand of thy people Israel, and let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry. ³² Fill them with cowardice; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction. ³³ Strike them down with the sword of those who love thee, and let all who know thy name praise thee with hymns.”

³⁴ Then both sides attacked, and there fell of the army of Lys′ias five thousand men; they fell in action.^{[a] 35} And when Lys′ias saw the rout of his troops and observed the boldness which inspired those of Judas, and how ready they were either to live or to die nobly, he departed to Antioch and enlisted mercenaries, to invade Judea again with an even larger army.

³⁵ “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.’ ³⁸ This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹ Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. ⁵² Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, ⁵³ you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. ⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. ⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 8 ¹ And Saul was consenting to his death.

Saul Persecutes the Church

And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samar′ia, except the apostles. ² Devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him. ³ But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Philip Preaches in Samaria

⁴ Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.