23. And he took with him those who were in Galilee and in Arbatta, with their wives and children, and all that was theirs, and he led them into Judea with great rejoicing.
24. And Judas Maccabeus, and Jonathan his brother, crossed over the Jordan, and they traveled three days' journey through the desert.
25. And the Nabateans met them, and they accepted them peacefully, and they described to them all that had happened to their brothers in the land of Gilead,
26. and that many of them were trapped in Bozrah, and Bosor, and Alema, and in Chaspho, and Maked, and Carnaim. All these are large and fortified cities.
27. Moreover, they were held in their grasp in the other cities of Gilead, and they had arranged to move their army, on the next day, to these cities, and to seize them, and to destroy them all in one day.
28. Then Judas and his army unexpectedly turned their path into the desert, to Bosor, and they occupied the city. And he killed every male by the edge of the sword, and took all their spoils, and burned it with fire.
29. And they arose from there by night, and they went forth all the way to the fortress.
30. And it happened that, at first light, when they lifted up their eyes, behold, there was a multitude of people, which could not be numbered, bringing ladders and machines, in order to seize the fortress, and to assault them.