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.
66. He then set out to enter the land of the Philistines and passed through Marisa.
67. That day some priests who wished to do a brave deed died in battle because they had gone out to battle unwisely.
68. But Judas turned aside to Azotus in the land of the Philistines. Judas tore down their altars, and he burned the carved images of their gods with fire. He plundered the towns and returned to Judah.