48
Then Judas sent a friendly message to them: "Let us pass through your territory to return home. No one will harm you; we will just pass through." But they still refused to open the gates.
49
So Judas told everyone in the group, except the fighting men, to camp where they were.
50
The fighting men were ordered to take up their positions and attack the town. They fought all day and all night, until they had taken it.
51
Judas had all the men of Ephron put to death, plundered the town, and leveled it. Then he and his army marched through the town over the dead bodies.
52
They crossed the Jordan into the wide plain opposite Beth Shan.
53
Throughout the whole march Judas kept gathering up the stragglers and encouraging the people until they reached the land of Judea.
54
With thanksgiving and rejoicing, they went up to Mount Zion and sacrificed burnt offerings because they had returned safely without a single loss.
55
While Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and their brother Simon was attacking Ptolemais in Galilee,
56
Joseph and Azariah, the commanders of the army in Judea, heard about their brave deeds and victories.
57
They said to one another, "Let's go to war with the Gentiles around us and win some fame for ourselves."
58
So they and their men attacked Jamnia.