2 Maccabees 15:20-22

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Defeat and Death of Nicanor

²⁰ When all were now looking forward to the coming issue, and the enemy was already close at hand with their army drawn up for battle, the elephants^[a] strategically stationed and the cavalry deployed on the flanks, ²¹ Maccabeus, observing the masses that were in front of him and the varied supply of arms and the savagery of the elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the Lord who works wonders; for he knew that it is not by arms, but as the Lord^[b] decides, that he gains the victory for those who deserve it. ²² He called upon him in these words: “O Lord, you sent your angel in the time of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he killed fully one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Sennacherib.