18
Now the men in the citadel kept hemming Israel in around the sanctuary. They were trying in every way to harm them and strengthen the Gentiles.
19
So Judas decided to destroy them, and assembled all the people to besiege them.
20
They gathered together and besieged the citadel in the one hundred and fiftieth year; and he built siege towers and other engines of war.
21
But some of the garrison escaped from the siege and some of the ungodly Israelites joined them.
22
They went to the king and said, "How long will you fail to do justice and to avenge our brethren?
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.