John and Judas Defeat Cendebeus
1John went up from Gezer and told his father Simon what Cendebeus had been doing. 2Simon summoned Judas and John, the two eldest of his sons, and told them, “My brothers and I, together with our father’s house, have fought Israel’s wars from our youth to this very day, and again and again it has prospered in our hands to rescue Israel. 3But now I have grown old, while you, by mercy, have come to full age. Take my place and my brother’s, and go out and do battle for our people. And may the help that comes from Heaven be with you.” 4From the country he picked twenty thousand warriors, along with horsemen, and they marched against Cendebeus and spent the night at Modein. 5Rising at dawn, they went out into the plain, and there was a large force coming to meet them, foot soldiers and horsemen, with a wadi lying between the two sides. 6John and his people took up position facing them. When he saw the people shrinking from crossing the wadi, he crossed over first; and when his men saw him, they crossed after him. 7He divided the people and placed the horsemen in the middle of the foot soldiers, for the enemy’s cavalry was very numerous. 8They sounded the trumpets, and Cendebeus was put to rout along with his army. Many of them fell dead, and those who were left fled to the stronghold. 9It was then that John’s brother Judas was wounded; but John kept up the pursuit until he reached Kedron, which Cendebeus had built. 10The enemy fled to the towers out in the open country of Azotus, and he set the town ablaze. About two thousand of their men fell, and he returned to Judea in peace.
The Murder of Simon at Dok
11Ptolemy son of Abubus had been appointed commander over the plain of Jericho. He possessed a great deal of silver and gold, 12since the high priest was his father-in-law. 13His heart swelled with pride, and he set his mind on seizing the country. He laid a treacherous plan against Simon and his sons, meaning to do away with them. 14Simon was going around the cities of the country, seeing to their needs. He went down to Jericho, taking his sons Mattathias and Judas with him, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year, in the eleventh month — the month of Shebat. 15The son of Abubus welcomed them with treachery into the little fortress called Dok, which he had built. He set a great drinking feast before them, and he had hidden men there. 16When Simon and his sons were drunk, Ptolemy and his men sprang up, seized their weapons, rushed in on Simon in the banquet hall, and slew him, together with his two sons and several of his servants. 17So he committed an act of great treachery and paid back good with evil. 18Ptolemy wrote an account of this and sent it to the king, asking him to send troops to his aid and to hand over to him their country and their cities. 19He sent other men to Gezer to do away with John, and he sent letters to the officers over thousands, telling them to come to him so that he could reward them with silver, gold, and gifts. 20He sent still others to seize Jerusalem and the temple mount. 21But someone ran ahead to Gezer and brought John word that his father and brothers had perished, and that “he has sent men to kill you too.” 22When he heard it, John was utterly shaken. He seized the men who had come to destroy him and killed them, for he knew they meant to destroy him. 23As for the rest of John’s deeds — his wars and the brave deeds he performed, the walls he built, and all that he accomplished — 24they stand written in the chronicles of his high priesthood, from the time he became high priest after his father.
