15. Alcimus assured them of his peaceful intentions and solemnly promised that no harm would come to them or their friends.
16. But as soon as they began to trust him, he arrested sixty of them and put them all to death on the same day. As the scripture says,
17. “The blood of your faithful people was poured out,their bodies were scattered round Jerusalem,and there was no one left to bury the dead.”
18. When this happened, all the people were afraid of Alcimus and Bacchides, and they said, “They don't know what truth or justice means. They gave their solemn word and then broke it!”
19. Bacchides left Jerusalem and set up his headquarters at Beth Zaith. He ordered the arrest of some of the faithful Jews and even many of the renegades who had willingly joined him; he had them killed and thrown into a deep pit.
20. Bacchides put the country under the control of Alcimus, left troops there to help him, and returned to the king.
21. Alcimus then began his struggle to establish himself as High Priest.
22. Every troublemaker in the country joined him. They gained control of the land of Judea and caused great difficulties for the Jews.
23. Judas saw that the trouble Alcimus and his men had caused was even worse than the damage done by the Gentiles.
24. So he went round the whole country of Judea, taking revenge on all the men who had willingly joined Alcimus and preventing them from leaving the towns and going into the country.
25. When Alcimus saw that Judas and his men were growing more powerful and when he realized that he would not be able to stand against them, he returned to the king and accused them of great crimes.
26. Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his most honoured officers, who hated the Jews, with orders to exterminate them.
27. Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a big army. He tried to trick Judas and his brothers by sending peace offers. He said,
28. “There need not be any quarrel between you and me. I will come to you with a small escort for a friendly private conversation.”
29. When he came to Judas, they exchanged polite greetings, but Judas' enemies were ready to kidnap him.
30. When Judas learnt that Nicanor's visit was part of a plot against him, he was afraid and decided not to meet him again.