70. “You are the only one who resists us. I am laughed at and put to shame on your account. Why are you exercising authority against us in the mountains?
71. If you have confidence in your forces, come down now to us in the plain, and let us test each other’s strength there; for the forces of the cities are on my side.
72. Inquire and find out who I am and who the others are who are helping me. People are saying that you cannot make a stand against us because your ancestors were twice put to flight in their own land.
73. Now you too will be unable to withstand our cavalry and such a force as this in the plain, where there is not a stone or a pebble or a place to flee.”
74. When Jonathan heard the message of Apollonius, he was provoked. Choosing ten thousand men, he set out from Jerusalem, and Simon his brother joined him to help him.
75. He encamped near Joppa, but the people of the city shut him out because Apollonius had a garrison in Joppa. When they attacked it,
76. the people of the city became afraid and opened the gates, and so Jonathan took possession of Joppa.