42
Then the people of Israel began to write in their instruments and contracts, In the first year of Simon the high priest, the governor and leader of the Jews.
43
In those days Simon camped against Gaza and besieged it round about; he made also an engine of war, and set it by the city, and battered a certain tower, and took it.
44
And they that were in the engine leaped into the city; whereupon there was a great uproar in the city:
45
Insomuch as the people of the city rent their clothes, and climbed upon the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace.
46
And they said, Deal not with us according to our wickedness, but according to thy mercy.
The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.