2 Maccabees 8:1-3

Good News Translation

Judas Maccabeus Revolts^(A)

8 Judas Maccabeus and his friends went secretly from village to village until they had gathered a force of about 6,000 Jewish men who had remained faithful to their religion. ² They begged the Lord to help his people, now trampled under foot by all nations, to take pity on the Temple, now defiled by pagans, ³ and to have mercy on Jerusalem, now destroyed and almost leveled to the ground.