9. Nicanor, Patroclus’ son, one of the king’s most important political advisors, was immediately chosen and sent with a military unit of no fewer than twenty thousand men of various nationalities to eliminate Judea’s entire population. He also sent with him Gorgias, a general experienced in military affairs.
10. Nicanor agreed to raise the payment that the king owed the Romans—114,000 pounds of silver—by selling the Jewish prisoners of war.
11. Immediately, he sent a message into the coastal cities, summoning them to purchase Jews as slaves, setting the price at fifty-seven pounds of silver for every ninety persons. But he didn’t anticipate the judgment that was coming from the almighty.
12. When news of Nicanor’s plan reached Judas, he told those with him about the imminent appearance of the military force.
13. The cowardly and those who didn’t trust God’s judgment ran away and hid themselves.
14. Some were selling all they possessed while at the same time calling on the Lord to rescue those whom Nicanor had sold even before they met.