you alone are bountiful; you alone are just and almighty and eternal. You rescue Israel from every evil; you chose the ancestors and consecrated them.

The Lord Protects His Temple

While they were calling upon the Almighty Lord that he would keep what had been entrusted safe and secure for those who had entrusted it,

they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.

Therefore the place itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation and afterward participated in its benefits, and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory when the great Lord became reconciled.

Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals, yet whether I live or die I will not escape the hands of the Almighty.

You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God.

and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.”

So he immediately sent to the towns on the seacoast, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to hand over ninety slaves for a talent, not expecting the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him.

“For they trust to arms and acts of daring,” he said, “but we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those who are coming against us, and even, if necessary, the whole world.”

With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy and wounded and disabled most of Nicanor’s army and forced them all to flee.

He exhorted his troops not to fear the attack of the nations but to keep in mind the former times when help had come to them from heaven and so to look for the victory that the Almighty would give them.

He showed them the vile Nicanor’s head and that profane man’s arm, which had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty.