8. The king selected Bacchides, one of the king’s chief political advisors and governor of the province called Beyond the River. He was a powerful man in the kingdom and was loyal to the king.
9. The king sent him and sent the wicked Alcimus along with him. He made Alcimus high priest and authorized him to take vengeance on the Israelites.
10. So they marched forward and came with a large force into the land of Judah. Bacchides sent messengers to Judas and his brothers using peaceful but deceitful words.
11. But they ignored the messengers because they saw that they had come with a large military force.
12. Then a group of legal experts came before Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for just terms.
13. The Hasideans were the first among the Israelites to seek peace with them.
14. They said, "A priest who is descended from Aaron has come with the army, and he won’t harm us."
15. Alcimus spoke peaceably to them and made a pledge to them: "We won’t seek to injure you or your friends."
16. So they trusted him. But he seized sixty of them and killed them in one day. This was in keeping with the written word:
17. The flesh of your faithful ones…and their blood they poured outall around Jerusalem;there was no one to bury them.
18. Then fear and dread came over all the people. They said, "They are not truthful or just, because they broke the promise they made."