Add parallel Print Page Options

Cleansing and Dedication of the Temple

36 Then Judas and his brothers said, “See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.”(A) 37 So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. 38 There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins.(B) 39 Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation; they sprinkled themselves with ashes(C) 40 and fell face down on the ground. And they blew the signal trumpets, and they cried out to heaven.(D)

41 Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.(E) 42 He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, 43 and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 44 They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned.(F) 45 And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the nations had defiled it. So they tore down the altar 46 and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.(G) 47 Then they took unhewn[a] stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.(H) 48 They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and consecrated the courts. 49 They made new holy vessels and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.(I) 50 Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.(J)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4.47 Gk whole
'1 Maccabees 4:36-50' not found for the version: New International Version.