16
The Maccabee and his followers were praying and calling on God to help them. They rushed against the Idumean fortresses.
17
After mounting a vigorous attack, they gained control of all the sites and held off those fighting on the wall. They slaughtered all those they encountered, killing at least twenty thousand.
18
When no fewer than nine thousand fled into two towers well equipped for a siege,
19
the Maccabee departed to other places that needed his urgent attention, leaving Simon, Joseph, and Zacchaeus with a sufficient force for the siege of these towers.
20
Some men in the towers bribed greedy people around Simon, who, in turn, after receiving seventy thousand drachmen, allowed some of the enemy to slip away.