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42 Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to be done to the people to cause their final destruction. ⁴³But they said to one another, ‘Let us restore the ruins of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary.’ ⁴⁴So the congregation assembled to be ready for battle, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.
⁴⁵ Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness;
   not one of her children went in or out.
The sanctuary was trampled down,
   and aliens held the citadel;
   it was a lodging-place for the Gentiles.
Joy was taken from Jacob;
   the flute and the harp ceased to play.

46 Then they gathered together and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah. ⁴⁷They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes. ⁴⁸And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles consulted the images of their gods. ⁴⁹They also brought the vestments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the nazirites^* who had completed their days; ⁵⁰and they cried aloud to Heaven, saying,
‘What shall we do with these?
   Where shall we take them?