1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59
36Then Judas and his brothers said: “Behold, our enemies have been crushed. Let us go up now to cleanse and renew the holy places.” 37And all the army gathered together, and they ascended to Mount Zion. 38And they saw the sanctuary deserted, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned, and weeds growing up in the courts, as in a forest or as on the mountains, and the adjoining chambers demolished. 39And they rent their garments, and they made a great wailing, and they placed ashes on their heads. 40And they fell to the ground on their faces, and they sounded the trumpets of alarm, and they cried out toward heaven. 41Then Judas numbered men to fight against those who were in the stronghold, until they had cleansed the holy places. 42And he chose priests without blemish, whose will held to the law of God. 43And they cleansed the holy places, and they took away the stones of defilement to an unclean place. 44And he considered the altar of holocausts, which had been profaned, as to what he should do with it. 45And a good counsel fell upon them, to destroy it, lest it might become a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it; so they demolished it. 46And they stored the stones in the mountain house, in a fitting place, until there should come a prophet, who would provide an answer about these. 47Then they took whole stones, according to the law, and they built a new altar, according to that which was before. 48And they rebuilt the holy places and the things that were in the inner parts of the temple, and they sanctified the temple and the courts. 49And they made new holy vessels, and they brought the lampstand, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. 50And they placed incense on the altar, and they lit the lamps, which were on the lampstand, and they gave light in the temple. 51And they placed the bread on the table, and they hung up the veils, and they completed all the works which they had begun. 52And they arose before the morning, on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, (which is the month of Kislev) in the one hundred and forty-eighth year. 53And they offered sacrifice, according to the law, on the new altar of holocausts that they made. 54According to the time and according to the day, on which the Gentiles had contaminated it, on the same day, it was renewed with canticles, and lutes, and lyres, and cymbals. 55And all the people fell upon their faces, and they adored, and they blessed, toward heaven, him that had prospered them. 56And they kept the dedication of the altar for eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation and praise. 57And they adorned the face of the temple with crowns of gold and small shields. And they dedicated the gates and the adjoining chambers, and they set up doors on them. 58And there was very great rejoicing among the people, and the disgrace of the Gentiles was averted. 59And Judas, and his brothers, and all the assembly of Israel decreed that the day of the dedication of the altar must be kept in its time, from year to year, for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev, with joy and gladness.