"He appointed men to fight, till they had cleansed the holy places. He chose priests without blemish, whose will was set upon the law of God."

Henri-Camille Danger
Mattathias refuses to obey the orders of the tyrant Antiochus (1882)
Musée de Soissons

***

Congregati sunt inimici nostri, 

et gloriantur in virtute sua: 

contere fortitudinem illorum, Domine, et disperge illos:

* Ut cognoscant, quia non est alius qui pugnet pro nobis, 

nisi tu Deus noster.

Then Judas, and his brethren said: "Behold our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them." And all the army assembled together, and they went up into mount Sion. And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest, or on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down. And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads. And they fell face down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded with the trumpets of alarm, and they cried towards heaven.

Then Judas appointed men to fight against them that were in the castle, till they had cleansed the holy places. And he chose priests without blemish, whose will was set upon the law of God. And they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that had been defiled into an unclean place. And he considered about the altar of holocausts that had been profaned, what he should do with it. And a good counsel came into their minds, to pull it down: lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it; so they threw it down. And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them.

Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former. And they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple: and they sanctified the temple, and the courts. And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. And they put incense upon the altar, and lighted up the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple. And they set the loaves upon the table, and hung up the veils, and finished all the works that they had begun to make.

1 Maccabees, 4:36-51

(Lessons for Matins for this Sunday for the Roman Breviary - 20th After Pentecost, 2nd in October)