19. He commanded them, "Take charge of this people, but don’t engage in battle with the Gentiles before we return."
20. Three thousand men were assigned to Simon to go to Galilee, and eight thousand were to go with Judas to Gilead.
21. So Simon went to Galilee, fought several battles with the Gentiles, and crushed them.
22. He pursued them to the gate of Ptolemais. As many as three thousand Gentiles died, and he plundered their possessions.
23. Then he took the Jews of Galilee and Arbatta, together with their wives and children and all they owned, and led them to Judea with great rejoicing.
24. Judas Maccabeus and his brother Jonathan crossed the Jordan and traveled for three days into the wilderness.
25. They encountered the Nabateans, who greeted them in peace and related all that had happened to their people in Gilead:
26. "Many of them have been cornered inside Bozrah and Bosor, in Alema and Chaspho, in Maked and Carnaim." These were strong and large towns.
27. "Some have been confined in other towns in Gilead. The enemy is getting ready to attack the fortresses tomorrow. They intend to capture and destroy all these people in a single day."
28. So Judas and his army turned back quickly to Bozrah by the wilderness road. He took the town and killed every male by the sword. He seized all their goods and burned down the town.
29. He left there by night and went all the way to the fortress.
30. At daybreak they looked around and saw a large company, too many to count, carrying ladders and war engines to use to capture the fortress. They were attacking those inside.
31. So Judas saw that the battle had already begun and that the cries of the townspeople went up to heaven. There were trumpet blasts and loud shouts.
32. He said to his forces: "Fight today for your people!"
33. He came up behind them in three companies. They sounded their trumpets and cried out in prayer.