36. "King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders, and to the people of the Jews: greetings.
37. The golden crown and the bahem that you sent, we have received. And we are prepared to make a great peace with you, and to write to the officers of the king to remit to you the things that we have released.
38. For whatever we have established remains in force for you. The strongholds that you have built, let them be yours.
39. Likewise, any oversight or fault, even to this day, we forgive it, along with the crown that you owed. And if anything else was taxed in Jerusalem, now let it not be taxed.
40. And if any of you is fit to be enrolled among our own, let them be enrolled. And let there be peace between us."
41. In the one hundred and seventieth year, the yoke of the Gentiles was taken away from Israel.
42. And the people of Israel began to write in the tablets and the public records, in the first year under Simon: high priest, great commander, and leader of the Jews.
43. In those days, Simon took up a position at Gaza, and he encamped around it, and he made machines of war, and he applied them to the city, and he struck one tower and captured it.
44. And those who were within the machine broke forth into the city. And a great commotion occurred in the city.
45. And those who were in the city ascended upon the wall, with their wives and children, having torn their tunics. And they cried out with a loud voice, asking Simon to grant them a pledge.
46. And they said, "Do not repay us according to our malice, but according to your mercy."
47. And weeping, Simon did not destroy them. Yet he cast them out of the city, and he cleansed the buildings, in which there had been idols. And then he entered into it with hymns, blessing the Lord.
48. And, having cast out of it all uncleanness, he placed in it men who would observe the law. And he fortified it and made it his dwelling place.
49. But those who were in the stronghold of Jerusalem were prohibited from going out and entering the region, and from buying and selling. And they were very hungry, and many of them perished through famine.