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1Meanwhile, when Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus back into Judea, along with the right wing of his army.[#9:1 Greek the land of Judah; also in 9:57, 72.]
2They marched along the road that leads to Gilgal and set up camp at the ascent to Arbela. They then captured the town and killed many of its people.
3In early spring during the one hundred fifty-second year of Greek rule, they set up camp outside Jerusalem.[#9:3 Greek In the first month. This month of the Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in March and April 160 b.c.]
4Then they marched on to Berea near Jerusalem with twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand horsemen.
5Now Judas and three thousand of his select troops had set up camp in Elasa.
6When they saw the size of the enemy army, they became very frightened. Many deserted the camp until no more than eight hundred men remained.
7Seeing that only a fraction of his army was left and that the battle was imminent, Judas became discouraged because he had no time to gather more forces.
8But even though he was dismayed, he said to those who remained, “Let us get up and face our enemies. We may still have the strength to fight them.”
9His men tried to dissuade him, saying, “We don’t have the strength! We should save our lives and return to fight them with more of our fellow Israelites. There are too few of us now.”
10But Judas said, “I would never think of running from them. If our time has come, let us die bravely for our people and leave no blemish on our reputation.”
11The army of Bacchides moved out of camp and took positions for combat. The horsemen were divided into two groups, and the slingers and the archers went ahead of the army, as did the best fighters.
12The ranks of foot soldiers were flanked by horsemen on either side, and Bacchides was on the right flank. The army advanced as it sounded its trumpets, and Judas’s soldiers sounded their trumpets as well.
13The earth shook at the noise of the armies, and the battle continued from morning until evening.
14Judas saw that Bacchides and the stronger part of his army was on the right, so Judas led his bravest men
15and drove back the right flank, chasing them to Mount Azotus.
16The soldiers on the left flank realized that the right flank was beaten, so they turned to chase Judas and those who were with him, attacking them from the rear.
17The fighting became very intense, and both sides lost many men.
18Then Judas was killed, and the rest of his men fled.
19Jonathan and Simon took their brother Judas and buried him in the tomb of their ancestors at Modein.
20For many days, all Israel mourned deeply for him, saying,
21“The mighty hero—the savior of Israel—has fallen!”
22The rest of the deeds of Judas—his battles, his heroic acts, and his great achievements—have not been recorded here, but there were many of them.
23After the death of Judas, the ungodly came out of hiding throughout Israel, and evildoers reappeared.
24In those days there was a very severe famine, and the country eventually sided with the ungodly.
25Bacchides chose wicked men to administer the affairs of the country.
26These people searched out Judas’s friends and brought them to Bacchides, who punished and publicly humiliated them.
27There had not been such distress in Israel since the day the last prophet was seen in Israel.
28All Judas’s friends said to Jonathan,
29“Ever since your brother Judas died, there has been no one like him to fight Bacchides and our enemies and to deal with our own people who despise us.
30Therefore, we have chosen you today to succeed him as our ruler and commander, so that you can lead us into battle.”
31So Jonathan became leader in place of his brother Judas.
32When Bacchides heard about this, he tried to kill Jonathan.
33But Jonathan and his brother Simon and the others who were with them learned of the plot, and they fled into the wilderness of Tekoa. They set up camp by the pool of Asphar.
34Bacchides learned of this on the Sabbath, so he and his army crossed the Jordan.
35Jonathan sent his brother John to lead a convoy to ask their friends the Nabateans if they would store the Israelites’ sizable amount of baggage.
36The sons of Jambri, however, came from Medeba and seized John and all his possessions and took him away.
37Sometime later Jonathan and his brother Simon learned that the sons of Jambri had planned a large wedding. The bride was the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan, and they were planning to bring her from Nadabath in a splendid procession.
38Remembering the bloody death of their brother John, Jonathan and Simon went up and hid themselves in the hills.
39As they peered out, they saw a great crowd and a caravan loaded with possessions. The bridegroom came out with his relatives and friends to meet the procession with tambourines and musical instruments and a pompous military display.
40Then the Israelites rushed from their ambush and began killing them, and many of them died. The survivors fled into the mountains, leaving all their possessions behind to be captured by the Jews.
41So the wedding was turned into an occasion for mourning, and the joyful music into a dirge.
42When Jonathan and Simon had taken revenge for the death of their brother, they returned to the marshes of the Jordan.
43As soon as Bacchides heard about this, he came on the Sabbath to the banks of the Jordan with a large army.
44Jonathan said to his men, “Get up! We must fight for our lives, for this is a new and desperate situation.
45The battle is now in front of us, the Jordan River is behind us, and marshes and woods are on either side of us. There is no escape!
46Therefore, pray to God that you may be rescued from your enemies.”[#9:46 Greek to heaven.]
47Then they began to fight.
Jonathan’s army attacked the forces of Bacchides, but then Jonathan and his men retreated and escaped.
48Jonathan and his men jumped into the Jordan and swam over to the other side, but the enemy did not follow.
49That day a thousand of Bacchides’ men were killed.
50After returning to Jerusalem, Bacchides built strongholds throughout Judea. He built fortresses with high walls and gates and bars in Jericho, Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon.
51Bacchides placed garrisons in them to harass the Israelites.
52He fortified the towns of Beth-zur and Gazara and also the citadel, and he put troops in them, along with provisions.
53He took as hostages the sons of the leading men of the country and imprisoned them in the citadel at Jerusalem.
54In midspring of the one hundred fifty-third year of Greek rule, Alcimus ordered that the walls separating the Gentiles from the inner court of the Temple be torn down, thereby destroying the works of the prophets. But he had hardly started this[#9:54 Greek In the second month. This month of the Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in April and May 159 b.c.]
55when he suffered a stroke. Paralyzed and speechless, he could no longer give commands even in his own home, so the work stopped.
56Then Alcimus died in great agony.
57After he learned that Alcimus had died, Bacchides returned to the king, and Judea had peace for two years.
58Then the ungodly began to plot, saying, “Jonathan and those with him live in peace and are full of confidence. Let us bring Bacchides back, and he can capture them all in one night.”
59So they went to Bacchides and advised him to carry out this plan.
60Bacchides set out with a large army, and he sent secret letters to his military allies in Judea, instructing them to seize Jonathan and his men. But this failed because Jonathan learned of the plot.
61His men captured about fifty people in Judea who were the ringleaders of the plot, and they killed them.
62Then Jonathan, Simon, and their followers withdrew to Bethbasi in the wilderness, and they rebuilt and fortified it.
63When Bacchides found out what they had done, he gathered his entire army and sent word to his allies in Judea.
64They set up camp outside Bethbasi, and they made siege weapons and attacked the town for many days.
65Jonathan left his brother Simon in the town and went out into the country with a few men.
66He struck down Odomera and his family and the sons of Phasiron in their tents. Then he attacked Bacchides’ army.
67Simon and his troops rushed out of the town and set the siege weapons on fire.
68They fought against Bacchides and overcame him, inflicting great losses on him, and his planning and effort came to nothing.
69Bacchides was angry with the renegades who had advised him to come into their country, so he killed many of them. Then he decided to return to his own country.
70When Jonathan heard about this retreat, he sent ambassadors to Bacchides to offer peace and obtain release of the captives.
71Bacchides accepted the terms and kept his word, swearing that he would do Jonathan no harm as long as he lived.
72Bacchides released the prisoners he had taken previously from Judea, returned to his own country, and never again set foot in Judea.
73So war ended in Israel, and Jonathan settled in Michmash, where he judged the people and rooted out the wicked from Israel.