2 Maccabees 13:13-15

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹³ After consulting privately with the elders, he determined to march out and decide the matter by the help of God before the king’s army could enter Judea and get possession of the city. ¹⁴ So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his men to fight nobly to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Mo′de-in. ¹⁵ He gave his men the watchword, “God’s victory,” and with a picked force of the bravest young men, he attacked the king’s pavilion at night and slew as many as two thousand men in the camp. He stabbed^[a] the leading elephant and its rider.