18. But they did not find Timothy there, because he had already left the region. He had been able to do nothing there except leave behind a strong garrison in one place.
19. Two of Judas' generals, Dositheus and Sosipater, attacked the garrison and killed all 10,000 men stationed there.
20. Then Judas divided his army into several divisions, placing Dositheus and Sosipater each in command of a division, and hurried after Timothy, who had a force of 120,000 infantry and 2,500 cavalry.
21. When Timothy found out that Judas was coming after him, he sent the women and children on ahead with the baggage to the city of Karnaim, which was almost impossible to besiege or even to reach, because of the narrow passes that led up to it.
22. But at the moment that Judas' first division came into sight, the enemy forces were thrown into panic by a vision sent by God, who sees everything. In their terror they began to run wildly about and many of them were wounded by the swords of their own men.
23. So Judas and his men pursued them as hard as they could, killing at least 30,000 of the enemy.
24. Timothy himself was captured by the troops of Dositheus and Sosipater. But he was very shrewd and managed to convince them that many of their relatives were his prisoners and would be put to death if anything happened to him.
25. Finally, after he had promised to send their relatives home safely, they let him go free.
26. Next, Judas attacked the city of Karnaim and the temple of the goddess Atargatis there, killing 25,000 people
27. and completely destroying both the city and the temple. Then he attacked the fortified city of Ephron where Lysias and people of all nationalities were living. Strong young men took up their positions in front of the walls and fought bravely, while inside the city were stored large quantities of military supplies and weapons.
28. But the Jews prayed for help to the Lord, who crushes the power of his enemies. So they captured the city and killed about 25,000 people.
29. From there they hurried on to the city of Beth Shan, 120 kilometres north of Jerusalem.
30. The Jews there told Judas how kindly the people of the city had treated them, especially during hard times.