42. Nevertheless, Judas and his army went forth to do battle. Six hundred of the king’s soldiers died.
43. Eleazar, called Avaran, saw that one of the animals was taller than all the others and was equipped with royal armor. He figured that the king must be on it.
44. So he gave his life to save his people and to secure an everlasting name for himself.
45. He ran courageously into the midst of a group of soldiers to reach it, killing men right and left so that they had to give way to him on both sides.
46. He got under the elephant and stabbed it from underneath. He killed it, but it fell to the ground on top of him, and he died there.
47. As the Jews experienced the might and the fierce attack of the king’s forces, they turned away and fled.
48. The king’s army went up to Jerusalem against them. The king camped in Judea and at Mount Zion.
49. He made peace with the people of Beth-zur. They evacuated the town because they lacked sufficient resources there to withstand a siege (it was a sabbatical year for the land).
50. So the king took Beth-zur and positioned a guard unit there to hold it.
51. Then he camped in front of the sanctuary for many days. He set up siege towers, war engines that threw fire and rocks, machines to shoot darts, and catapults.
52. The Jews made war engines to match theirs, and they battled for many days.
53. But they had no food in storage since it was the seventh year. Those people who had found safe haven in Judea from the Gentiles had eaten the last of the food.
54. Only a few people remained in the sanctuary. The famine was so intense that the others had scattered to their own homes.
55. Then Lysias heard that King Antiochus, before he died, had appointed Philip to bring up Antiochus his son to be king.