1 Maccabees 13:49-51

Good News Translation

⁴⁹ Those in the fort in Jerusalem were now prevented from leaving to buy or sell anything. They were suffering from severe hunger and many of them had died of starvation. ⁵⁰ Finally they appealed to Simon for a truce. He agreed, removed them from the fort, and purified it. ⁵¹ On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the year 171,^[a] there was a great celebration in the city because this terrible threat to the security of Israel had come to an end. Simon and his men entered the fort singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving, while carrying palm branches and playing harps, cymbals, and lyres.