48. Judas sent them a peaceful message: "Let us pass through your land to get to ours. We won’t do you any harm. We’ll just pass through by foot." But they still refused to open to him.
49. So Judas ordered that the army camp wherever they were,
50. and the forces did so. All that day and night he fought against the town, and it was handed over to him.
51. He killed every male by the edge of the sword, and he demolished and plundered the town. Then he passed through it, walking over the dead bodies.
52. After that they crossed the Jordan and came into the large plain in front of Beth-shan.
53. Judas kept rallying those who fell behind and encouraged the people all along the way until he came to the land of Judah.
54. They went up to Mount Zion with joy and gladness. They made entirely burned offerings, because they had returned safely. Not one of them had died.
55. Now this is what happened while Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and their brother Simon was in Galilee in front of Ptolemais.
56. Joseph, Zechariah’s son, and Azariah (the commanders of the forces that had remained behind) heard about their brave deeds and the war they had fought.
57. So they said, "Let’s make a name for ourselves too. Let’s go and make war on the Gentiles around us."
58. They gave orders to the troops who were with them and marched against Jamnia.
59. Gorgias and his troops came out from the town to engage them in battle.
60. Joseph and Azariah were decisively defeated, and they were pursued to the borders of Judea. As many as two thousand Israelites died that day.
61. As a result, the people of Israel suffered a great defeat because, wanting to do a brave thing, they didn’t obey Judas and his brothers.
62. Furthermore, they didn’t belong to the family of those men through whom deliverance was given to Israel.
63. All Israel and all the Gentiles greatly esteemed Judas and his brothers, wherever their name was heard.
64. People gathered to them and praised them.
65. At that time, Judas and his brothers headed out and fought Esau’s descendants in the land to the south. He struck Hebron and its villages, tore down its fortress, and burned its towers all around.