29. Then breaking camp and marching from there, they moved swiftly against Scythopolis, seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.
30. But the Jews who lived there reported that the citizens of Scythopolis showed kindness and a civil attitude toward them even in times of misfortune.
31. They thanked them and encouraged them also to be well-disposed toward their people in the future as well. Then they returned to Jerusalem since the Festival of Weeks was about to begin.
32. After the Festival of Pentecost they moved against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea.
33. He came out with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horses.
34. A small number of Jews fell during the battle.
35. Dositheus, one of Bacenor’s men, a strong man on horseback, had seized Gorgias. Holding on to the governor’s robe, he dragged him down roughly, trying to take the horrible man alive. But one of the Thracian cavalry men assaulted Dositheus, crushed his shoulder, and Gorgias escaped into Marisa.