36. But the Jambrites from Medeba attacked John, took him captive, and carried off all the baggage.
37. Some time later Jonathan and his brother Simon learnt that the Jambrites were about to celebrate an important wedding and that there would be a bridal procession from the town of Nadabath. The bride was the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan.
38. Jonathan and Simon had wanted revenge for the death of their brother John, so they and their men went up one of the mountains and hid.
39. They kept watch and saw a noisy crowd loaded down with baggage. The bridegroom, his friends, and his relatives were on their way to meet the bride's party. They were heavily armed and were playing musical instruments and drums.
40. The Jews attacked from their ambush and killed many of them; the rest escaped into the mountains, while the Jews carried off all their possessions.
41. So the wedding was turned into a time of mourning and their joyful music into funeral songs.
42. Jonathan and Simon had taken full revenge for the death of their brother, and they returned to the marshes along the Jordan.
43. Bacchides heard about this and arrived on the Sabbath at the banks of the Jordan with a large army.
44. Jonathan said to his men, “Now we must fight for our lives. We are in a worse situation than we have ever been in before.
45. The enemy is in front of us, the river is behind us, and marshes and thickets are on both sides of us; there is no way out.
46. So pray now for the Lord to save us from our enemies.”
47. The battle began and Jonathan and his men were just about to kill Bacchides, when he escaped to the rear of the army.
48. So Jonathan and his men jumped into the Jordan and swam to the other side to escape, and the Syrian army did not cross the river to follow them.
49. That day Bacchides lost about a thousand men.
50. After Bacchides returned to Jerusalem, the Syrians built fortifications with high walls and barred gates for a number of towns in Judea: Emmaus, Beth Horon, Bethel, Timnath, Pirathon, Tephon, and the fortress in Jericho.
51. In all of these Bacchides placed troops to harass the Jews.
52. He also strengthened the fortifications of the towns of Bethzur and Gezer and of the fort in Jerusalem. He placed army units in them and stored up supplies there.