1 Maccabees 13:51-53

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

⁵¹ On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred and seventy-first year,^[a] the Jews^[b] entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel. ⁵² And Simon^[c] decreed that every year they should celebrate this day with rejoicing. He strengthened the fortifications of the temple hill alongside the citadel, and he and his men dwelt there. ⁵³ And Simon saw that John his son had reached manhood, so he made him commander of all the forces, and he dwelt in Gazar′a.