Jonathan: Leadership and Changing Alliances

1 Maccabees 9

²³ It came to pass after the death of Judas, that the lawless emerged within all the borders of Israel. All those who did iniquity rose up.

²⁴ In those days there was an exceedingly great famine, and the country went over to their side.

²⁵ Bacchides chose the ungodly men and made them rulers of the country.

²⁶ They inquired and searched for the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance on them and used them spitefully.

²⁷ There was great suffering in Israel, such as was not since the time prophets stopped appearing to them.

²⁸ All the friends of Judas were gathered together, and they said to Jonathan,

²⁹ “Since your brother Judas has died, we have no man like him to go out against our enemies and Bacchides, and among those of our nation who hate us.

³⁰ Now therefore we have chosen you this day to be our prince and leader in his place, that you may fight our battles.”

³¹ So Jonathan took the governance upon him at that time, and rose up in the place of his brother Judas.

³² When Bacchides found out, he tried to kill him.

³³ Jonathan, and Simon his brother, and all who were with him, knew it; and they fled into the wilderness of Tekoah, and encamped by the water of the pool of Asphar.

³⁴ Bacchides found this out on the Sabbath day, and came—he and all his army—over the Jordan.

³⁵ Jonathan sent his brother, a leader of the multitude, and implored his friends the Nabathaeans, that they might store their baggage, which was much, with them.

³⁶ The children of Jambri came out of Medaba, and seized John and all that he had, and went their way with it.

³⁷ But after these things, they brought word to Jonathan and Simon his brother that the children of Jambri were celebrating a great wedding, and were bringing the bride, a daughter of one of the great nobles of Canaan, from Nadabath with a large escort.

³⁸ They remembered John their brother, and went up, and hid themselves under the cover of the mountain.

³⁹ They lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a great procession with much baggage. The bridegroom came out with his friends and his kindred to meet them with timbrels, musicians, and many weapons.

⁴⁰ They rose up against them from their ambush and killed them, and many fell wounded to death. The remnant fled into the mountain, and the Jews took all their spoils.

⁴¹ So the wedding was turned into mourning, and the voice of their musicians into lamentation.

⁴² They avenged fully the blood of their brother, and turned back to the marshes of the Jordan.

⁴³ Bacchides heard it, and he came on the Sabbath day to the banks of the Jordan with a great army.

⁴⁴ Jonathan said to his company, “Let’s stand up now and fight for our lives, for things are different today than they were yesterday and the day before.

⁴⁵ For, behold, the battle is before us and behind us. Moreover the water of the Jordan is on this side and on that side, and marsh and thicket. There is no place to escape.

⁴⁶ Now therefore cry to heaven, that you may be delivered out of the hand of your enemies.”

⁴⁷ So the battle was joined, and Jonathan stretched out his hand to strike Bacchides, and he turned away back from him.

⁴⁸ Jonathan and those who were with him leapt into the Jordan, and swam over to the other side. The enemy didn’t pass over the Jordan against them.

⁴⁹ About a thousand men of Bacchides’ company fell that day;

⁵⁰ and he returned to Jerusalem. They built strong cities in Judea, the stronghold that was in Jericho, and Emmaus, Bethhoron, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars.

⁵¹ He set garrisons in them to harass Israel.

⁵² He fortified the city Bethsura, Gazara, and the citadel, and put troops and stores of food in them.

⁵³ He took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem.

⁵⁴ And in the one hundred fifty-third year, in the second month, Alcimus gave orders to pull down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. He also pulled down the works of the prophets.

⁵⁵ He began to pull down. At that time was Alcimus stricken, and his works were hindered; and his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, and he could no more speak anything and give orders concerning his house.

⁵⁶ Alcimus died at that time with great torment.

⁵⁷ Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead, and he returned to the king. Then the land of Judah had rest for two years.

⁵⁸ Then all the lawless men took counsel, saying, “Behold, Jonathan and his men are dwelling at ease and in security. Now therefore we will bring Bacchides, and he will capture them all in one night.

⁵⁹ They went and consulted with him.

⁶⁰ He marched out and came with a great army, and sent letters secretly to all his allies who were in Judea, that they should seize Jonathan and those who were with him; but they couldn’t, because their plan was known to them.

⁶¹ Jonathan’s men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were authors of the wickedness, and he killed them.

⁶² Jonathan, Simon, and those who were with him, went away to Bethbasi, which is in the wilderness, and he built up that which had been pulled down, and they made it strong.

⁶³ Bacchides found out about it, and he gathered together all his multitude, and sent orders to those who were of Judea.

⁶⁴ He went and encamped against Bethbasi and fought against it many days, and made engines of war.

⁶⁵ Jonathan left his brother Simon in the city, and went out into the country, and he went with a few men.

⁶⁶ He struck Odomera and his kindred, and the children of Phasiron in their tents.

⁶⁷ They began to strike them, and to go up with their forces. Then Simon and those who were with him went out of the city, and set the engines of war on fire,

⁶⁸ and fought against Bacchides, and he was defeated by them. They afflicted him severely; for his counsel and expedition was in vain.

⁶⁹ They were very angry with the lawless men who gave him counsel to come into the country, and they killed many of them. Then he decided to depart into his own land.

⁷⁰ Jonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to him, to the end that they should make peace with him, and that he should restore to them the captives.

⁷¹ He accepted the thing, and did according to his words, and swore to him that he would not seek his harm all the days of his life.

⁷² He restored to him the captives which he had taken before out of the land of Judah, and he returned and departed into his own land, and didn’t come any more into their borders.

⁷³ Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan lived at Michmash. Jonathan began to judge the people; and he destroyed the ungodly out of Israel.

1 Maccabees 10

¹ In the one hundred sixtieth year, Alexander Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, went up and took possession of Ptolemais. They received him, and he reigned there.

² King Demetrius heard about this, and he gathered together exceedingly great forces, and went out to meet him in battle.

³ Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with words of peace, so as to honor him.

⁴ For he said, “Let’s go beforehand to make peace with them, before he makes peace with Alexander against us;

⁵ for he will remember all the evils that we have done against him, and to his kindred and to his nation.”

⁶ So he gave him authority to gather together forces, and to provide weapons, and that he should be his ally. He also commanded that they should release the hostages that were in the citadel to him.

⁷ Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letter in the hearing of all the people, and of those who were in the citadel.

⁸ They were very afraid when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army.

⁹ Those in the citadel released the hostages to Jonathan, and he restored them to their parents.

¹⁰ Jonathan lived in Jerusalem and began to build and renew the city.

¹¹ He commanded those who did the work to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion with square stones for defense; and they did so.

¹² The foreigners who were in the strongholds which Bacchides had built fled away.

¹³ Each man left his place and departed into his own land.

¹⁴ Only at Bethsura, there were left some of those who had forsaken the law and the commandments, for it was a place of refuge to them.

¹⁵ King Alexander heard all the promises which Demetrius had sent to Jonathan. They told him of the battles and the valiant deeds which he and his kindred had done, and of the troubles which they had endured.

¹⁶ So he said, “Could we find another man like him? Now we will make him our friend and ally.”

¹⁷ He wrote a letter and sent it to him, in these words, saying,

¹⁸ “King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings.

¹⁹ We have heard of you, that you are a mighty man of valour, and worthy to be our friend.

²⁰ Now we have appointed you this day to be high priest of your nation, and to be called the king’s friend, and to take our side, and to keep friendship with us.” He also sent to him a purple robe and a golden crown.

²¹ And Jonathan put on the holy garments in the seventh month of the one hundred sixtieth year, at the feast of tabernacles; and he gathered together forces and provided weapons in abundance.

²² When Demetrius heard these things, he was grieved and said,

²³ “What is this that we have done, that Alexander has gotten ahead of us in establishing friendship with the Jews to strengthen himself?

²⁴ I also will write to them words of encouragement and of honor and of gifts, that they may be with me to aid me.”

²⁵ So he sent to them this message: “King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings.

²⁶ Since as you have kept your covenants with us, and continued in our friendship, and have not joined yourselves to our enemies, we have heard of this, and are glad.

²⁷ Now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good in return for your dealings with us.

²⁸ We will grant you many immunities and give you gifts.

²⁹ “Now I free you and release all the Jews from the tributes, from the salt tax, and from the crown levies.

³⁰ Instead of the third part of the seed, and instead of half of the fruit of the trees, which falls to me to receive, I release it from this day and henceforth, so that I will not take it from the land of Judah, and from the three districts which are added to it from the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth and for all time.

³¹ Let Jerusalem be holy and free, with her borders, tithes, and taxes.

³² I yield up also my authority over the citadel which is at Jerusalem, and give it to the high priest, that he may appoint in it men whom he chooses to keep it.

³³ Every soul of the Jews who has been carried captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom, I set at liberty without payment. Let all officials also cancel the taxes on their livestock.

³⁴ “All the feasts, the Sabbaths, new moons, appointed days, three days before a feast, and three days after a feast, let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom.

³⁵ No man shall have authority to exact anything from any of them, or to trouble them concerning any matter.

³⁶ “Let there be enrolled among the king’s forces about thirty thousand men of the Jews, and pay shall be given to them, as is due to all the king’s forces.

³⁷ Of them, some shall be placed in the king’s great strongholds, and some of them shall be placed over the affairs of the kingdom, which are positions of trust. Let those who are over them and their rulers be of themselves, and let them walk after their own laws, even as the king has commanded in the land of Judah.

³⁸ “The three districts that have been added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be annexed to Judea, that they may be reckoned to be under one ruler, that they may not obey any other authority than the high priest’s.

³⁹ As for Ptolemais and its land, I have given it as a gift to the sanctuary that is at Jerusalem, for the expenses of the sanctuary.

⁴⁰ I also give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver from the king’s revenues from the places that are appropriate.

⁴¹ And all the additional funds which those who manage the king’s affairs didn’t pay as in the first years, they shall give from now on toward the works of the temple.

⁴² Besides this, the five thousand shekels of silver which they received from the uses of the sanctuary from the revenue year by year is also released, because it belongs to the priests who minister there.

⁴³ Whoever flees to the temple that is at Jerusalem, and within all of its borders, whether owing money to the king, or any other matter, let them go free, along with all that they have in my kingdom.

⁴⁴ For the building and renewing of the structures of the sanctuary, the expense shall also be given out of the king’s revenue.

⁴⁵ For the building of the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, the expense shall also be given out of the king’s revenue, also for the building of the walls in Judea.”

⁴⁶ Now when Jonathan and the people heard these words, they gave no credence to them, and didn’t accept them, because they remembered the great evil which he had done in Israel, and that he had afflicted them very severely.

⁴⁷ They were well pleased with Alexander, because he was the first who spoke words of peace to them, and they were allies with him always.

⁴⁸ King Alexander gathered together great forces and encamped near Demetrius.

⁴⁹ The two kings joined battle, and the army of Alexander fled; and Demetrius followed after him, and prevailed against them.

⁵⁰ He strengthened the battle exceedingly until the sun went down; and Demetrius fell that day.

⁵¹ Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt with this message:

⁵² “Since I have returned to my kingdom, and am seated on the throne of my fathers, and have established my dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and have taken possession of our country—

⁵³ yes, I joined the battle with him, and he and his army were defeated by us, and we sat on the throne of his kingdom—

⁵⁴ now also let’s make friends with one another. Give me now your daughter as my wife. I will be joined with you, and will give both you and her gifts worthy of you.”

⁵⁵ Ptolemy the king answered, saying, “Happy is the day you returned to the land of your ancestors and sat on the throne of their kingdom.

⁵⁶ Now I will do to you as you have written, but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another; and I will join with you, even as you have said.”

⁵⁷ So Ptolemy went out of Egypt, himself and Cleopatra his daughter, and came to Ptolemais in the one hundred sixty-second year.

⁵⁸ King Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra, and celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do.

⁵⁹ King Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come to meet him.

⁶⁰ He went with pomp to Ptolemais, and met the two kings. He gave them and their friends silver and gold, and many gifts, and found favor in their sight.

⁶¹ Some malcontents out of Israel, men who were transgressors of the law, gathered together against him to complain against him; but the king paid no attention to them.

⁶² The king commanded that they take off Jonathan’s garments and clothe him in purple, and they did so.

⁶³ The king made him sit with him, and said to his princes, “Go out with him into the midst of the city, and proclaim that no man may complain against him of any matter, and let no man trouble him for any reason.”

⁶⁴ It came to pass, when those who complained against him saw his honor according to the proclamation, and saw him clothed in purple, they all fled away.

⁶⁵ The king gave him honor, and enrolled him among his chief friends, and made him a captain and governor of a province.

⁶⁶ Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem with peace and gladness.

⁶⁷ In the one hundred sixty-fifth year, Demetrius, son of Demetrius, came out of Crete into the land of his ancestors.

⁶⁸ When King Alexander heard of it, he grieved exceedingly and returned to Antioch.

⁶⁹ Demetrius appointed Apollonius, who was over Coelesyria, and he gathered together a great army, and encamped against Jamnia, and sent to Jonathan the high priest, saying,

⁷⁰ “You alone lift up yourself against us, but I am ridiculed and in reproach because of you. Why do you assume authority against us in the mountains?

⁷¹ Now therefore, if you trust in your forces, come down to us into the plain, and let’s match strength with each other there; for the power of the cities is with me.

⁷² Ask and learn who I am, and the rest who help us. They say, ‘Your foot can’t stand before our face; for your ancestors have been put to flight twice in their own land.’

⁷³ Now you won’t be able to withstand the cavalry and such an army as this in the plain, where there is no stone or pebble, or place to flee.”

⁷⁴ Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind, and he chose ten thousand men, and went out from Jerusalem; and Simon his brother met him to help him.

⁷⁵ Then he encamped against Joppa. The people of the city shut him out, because Apollonius had a garrison in Joppa.

⁷⁶ So they fought against it. The people of the city were afraid, and opened to him; and Jonathan became master of Joppa.

⁷⁷ Apollonius heard about that, and he gathered an army of three thousand cavalry, and a great army, and went to Azotus as though he were on a journey, and at the same time advanced onward into the plain, because he had a multitude of cavalry which he trusted.

⁷⁸ He pursued him to Azotus, and the armies joined battle.

⁷⁹ Apollonius had secretly left a thousand cavalry behind them.

⁸⁰ Jonathan learned that there was an ambush behind him. They surrounded his army, and shot their arrows at the people, from morning until evening;

⁸¹ but the people stood fast, as Jonathan commanded them; and the enemy’s horses grew tired.

⁸² Then Simon brought forward his army and joined battle with the phalanx (for the cavalry were exhausted), and they were defeated by him and fled.

⁸³ The cavalry were scattered in the plain. They fled to Azotus and entered into Beth-dagon, their idol’s temple, to save themselves.

⁸⁴ Jonathan burned Azotus and the cities around it and took their spoils. He burned the temple of Dagon and those who fled into it with fire.

⁸⁵ Those who had fallen by the sword plus those who were burned were about eight thousand men.

⁸⁶ From there, Jonathan left and encamped against Ascalon. The people of the city came out to meet him with great pomp.

⁸⁷ Jonathan, with those who were on his side, returned to Jerusalem, having many spoils.

⁸⁸ It came to pass, when King Alexander heard these things, he honored Jonathan even more.

⁸⁹ He sent him a gold buckle, as the custom is to give to the king’s kindred. He gave him Ekron and all its land for a possession.

1 Maccabees 11

¹ Then the king of Egypt gathered together great forces, as the sand which is by the sea shore, and many ships, and sought to make himself master of Alexander’s kingdom by deceit, and to add it to his own kingdom.

² He went out into Syria with words of peace, and the people of the cities opened their gates to him and met him; for King Alexander’s command was that they should meet him, because he was his father-in-law.

³ Now as he entered into the cities of Ptolemais, he set his forces for a garrison in each city.

⁴ But when he came near to Azotus, they showed him the temple of Dagon burned with fire, and Azotus and its pasture lands destroyed, and the bodies cast out, and those who had been burned, whom he burned in the war, for they had made heaps of them in his way.

⁵ They told the king what Jonathan had done, that they might cast blame on him; but the king kept silent.

⁶ Jonathan met the king with pomp at Joppa, and they greeted one another, and they slept there.

⁷ Jonathan went with the king as far as the river that is called Eleutherus, then returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ But King Ptolemy took control of the cities along the sea coast, to Selucia which is by the sea, and he devised evil plans concerning Alexander.

⁹ He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius, saying, “Come! Let’s make a covenant with one another, and I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has, and you shall reign over your father’s kingdom;

¹⁰ for I regret that I gave my daughter to him, for he tried to kill me.

¹¹ He accused him, because he coveted his kingdom.

¹² Taking his daughter from him, he gave her to Demetrius, and was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity was openly seen.

¹³ Ptolemy entered into Antioch, and put on himself the crown of Asia. He put two crowns upon his head, the crown of Egypt and that of Asia.

¹⁴ But King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region were in revolt.

¹⁵ When Alexander heard of it, he came against him in war. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force, and put him to flight.

¹⁶ Alexander fled into Arabia, that he might be sheltered there; but King Ptolemy was triumphant.

¹⁷ Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander’s head, and sent it to Ptolemy.

¹⁸ King Ptolemy died the third day after, and those who were in his strongholds were slain by the inhabitants of the strongholds.

¹⁹ Demetrius became king in the one hundred sixty-seventh year.

²⁰ In those days Jonathan gathered together the Judeans to take the citadel that was at Jerusalem. He made many engines of war to use against it.

²¹ Some lawless men who hated their own nation went to the king and reported to him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel.

²² He heard, and was angry, but when he heard it, he set out immediately, and came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan, that he should not besiege it, and that he should meet him and speak with him at Ptolemais with all speed.

²³ But when Jonathan heard this, he gave orders to continue the siege. He chose some of the elders of Israel and of the priests, and put himself in peril

²⁴ by taking silver, gold, clothing, and various other presents, and went to Ptolemais to the king. Then he found favor in his sight.

²⁵ Some lawless men of those who were of the nation made complaints against him,

²⁶ and the king did to him even as his predecessors had done to him, and exalted him in the sight of all his friends,

²⁷ and confirmed to him the high priesthood, and all the other honors that he had before, and gave him preeminence among his chief friends.

²⁸ And Jonathan requested of the king that he would make Judea free from tribute, along with the three provinces and the country of Samaria, and promised him three hundred talents.

³⁸ When King Demetrius saw that the land was quiet before him, and that no resistance was made to him, he sent away all his troops, each man to his own place, except the foreign troops, which he had raised from the islands of the Gentiles. So all the troops of his fathers hated him.

³⁹ Now Tryphon was one of those who previously had been on Alexander’s side, and he saw that all the forces murmured against Demetrius. So he went to Imalcue the Arabian, who was raising up Antiochus the young child of Alexander,

⁴⁰ and urgently insisted to him that he should deliver him to him, that he might reign in his father’s place. He told him all that Demetrius had done, and the hatred with which his forces hated him; and he stayed there many days.

⁴¹ Now Jonathan sent to King Demetrius, that he should remove the troops of the citadel from Jerusalem, and the troops who were in the strongholds; for they fought against Israel continually.

⁴² Demetrius sent to Jonathan, saying, “I will not only do this for you and your nation, but I will greatly honor you and your nation, if I find an opportunity.

⁴³ Now therefore you shall do well if you send me men who will fight for me; for all my forces have revolted.”

⁴⁴ So Jonathan sent him three thousand valiant men to Antioch. They came to the king, and the king was glad at their coming.

⁴⁵ The people of the city gathered themselves together into the midst of the city, to the number of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and they wanted to kill the king.

⁴⁶ The king fled into the court of the palace, and the people of the city seized the main streets of the city and began to fight.

⁴⁷ The king called the Jews to help him, and they were gathered together to him all at once, and they dispersed themselves in the city, and killed that day about one hundred thousand.

⁴⁸ They set the city on fire, and seized many spoils that day, and saved the king.

⁴⁹ The people of the city saw that the Jews had taken control of the city as they pleased, and they became faint in their hearts, and they cried out to the king with supplication, saying,

⁵⁰ “Give us your right hand, and let the Jews cease from fighting against us and the city.”

⁵¹ They threw away their weapons and made peace. The Jews were glorified in the sight of the king, and before all who were in his kingdom. Then they returned to Jerusalem, having much plunder.

⁵² So King Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom, and the land was quiet before him.

⁵³ He lied in all that he spoke, and estranged himself from Jonathan, and didn’t repay him according to the benefits with which he had repaid him, and treated him very harshly.

⁵⁴ Now after this, Tryphon returned, and with him the young child Antiochus, who reigned and put on a crown.

⁵⁵ All the forces which Demetrius had sent away with disgrace were gathered to him, and they fought against him, and he fled and was routed.

⁵⁶ Tryphon took the elephants, and took control of Antioch.

⁵⁷ The young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm to you the high priesthood, and appoint you over the four districts, and to be one of the king’s friends.”

⁵⁸ He sent to him golden vessels and furniture for the table, and gave him permission to drink in golden vessels, and to be clothed in purple, and to have a golden buckle.

⁵⁹ He made his brother Simon governor from the Ladder of Tyre to the borders of Egypt.

⁶⁰ Jonathan went out and took his journey beyond the river and through the cities. All the forces of Syria gathered themselves to him to be his allies. He came to Ascalon, and the people of the city met him honorably.

⁶¹ He departed from there to Gaza, and the people of Gaza shut him out. So he besieged it and burned its pasture lands with fire, and plundered them.

⁶² The people of Gaza pleaded with Jonathan, and he gave them his right hand, and took the sons of their princes for hostages, and sent them away to Jerusalem. Then he passed through the country as far as Damascus.

⁶³ Then Jonathan heard that Demetrius’ princes had come to Kedesh, which is in Galilee, with a great army, intending to remove him from his office.

⁶⁴ He went to meet them, but he left Simon his brother in the country.

⁶⁵ Simon encamped against Bethsura, and fought against it many days, and hemmed it in.

⁶⁶ They asked him to give them his right hand, and he gave it to them. He removed them from there, took possession of the city, and set a garrison over it.

⁶⁷ Jonathan and his army encamped at the water of Gennesareth, and early in the morning they marched to the plain of Hazor.

⁶⁸ Behold, an army of foreigners met him in the plain. They laid an ambush for him in the mountains, but they themselves met him face to face.

⁶⁹ But those who lay in ambush rose out of their places and joined battle. All those who were on Jonathan’s side fled.

⁷⁰ Not one of them was left, except Mattathias the son of Absalom, and Judas the son of Chalphi, captains of the forces.

⁷¹ Jonathan tore his clothes, put dirt on his head, and prayed.

⁷² He turned again to them in battle, and routed them, and they fled.

⁷³ When the men on his side who had fled saw this, they returned to him and pursued with him to Kedesh to their camp, and they encamped there.

⁷⁴ About three thousand men of the foreigners fell on that day. Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

1 Maccabees 12

¹ Jonathan saw that the time was favorable for him, so he chose men and sent them to Rome to confirm and renew the friendship that they had with them.

² He also sent similar letters to the Spartans, and to other places.

³ They went to Rome, entered into the senate house, and said, “Jonathan the high priest and the nation of the Jews have sent us to renew for them the friendship and the alliance, as in former time.”

⁴ They gave them letters to the men in every place, that they should provide safe conduct for them on their way to the land of Judah.

²⁴ Now Jonathan heard that Demetrius’ princes had returned to fight against him with a greater army than before,

²⁵ so he marched away from Jerusalem, and met them in the country of Hamath; for he gave them no opportunity to set foot in his country.

²⁶ He sent spies into his camp, and they came again, and reported to him that they were preparing to attack them at night.

²⁷ But as soon as the sun was down, Jonathan commanded his men to watch, and to be armed, that all the night long they might be ready for battle. He stationed sentinels around the camp.

²⁸ The adversaries heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, and they feared, and trembled in their hearts, and they kindled fires in their camp then withdrew.

²⁹ But Jonathan and his men didn’t know it until the morning; for they saw the fires burning.

³⁰ Jonathan pursued after them, but didn’t overtake them; for they had gone over the river Eleutherus.

³¹ Then Jonathan turned toward the Arabians, who are called Zabadaeans, and struck them, and took their spoils.

³² He came out from there, and came to Damascus, and took his journey through all the country.

³³ Simon went out, and took his journey as far as Ascalon, and the strongholds that were near it. Then he turned toward Joppa and took possession of it;

³⁴ for he had heard that they were planning to hand over the stronghold to Demetrius’ men. He set a garrison there to guard it.

³⁵ Then Jonathan returned and called the elders of the people together. He planned with them to build strongholds in Judea,

³⁶ and to make the walls of Jerusalem higher, and to raise a great mound between the citadel and the city, to separate it from the city, that so it might be isolated, that its garrison might neither buy nor sell.

³⁷ They were gathered together to build the city. Part of the wall of the brook that is on the east side had fallen down, and he repaired the section called Chaphenatha.

³⁸ Simon also built Adida in the plain country, made it strong, and set up gates and bars.