Then John came up from Gazara and declared unto Simon his father what Kendebaios had done.

So Simon called his two elder sons, Judah and John, and said unto them: "I and my brethren and the house of my father have fought the battles of Israel from our youth even unto this day. And oftentimes has salvation for Israel been wrought by our hands. Now therefore, I am aged, and ye, through the mercy of God, are in your prime. Stand ye in my stead and in the stead of my brother, and go forth and fight for your nation, and may the help of Heaven be with you."

And he chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war and horsemen, and they marched against Kendebaios and lodged at Modin.

Then they rose up in the morning and marched into the plain, and behold, there met them a mighty army of footmen and horsemen; and there was a valley betwixt them.

So John came down to meet them, he and his people. And when the people feared to go over the valley, he went over first, and when the men saw him, they passed over after him.

And he divided the people, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen, and the cavalry of the enemy was very numerous.

Then they blew with the holy trumpets, and Kendebaios and his army were broken, and many of them fell and were slain, and the rest fled to the stronghold.

Then Judah, John's brother, was wounded, and John pursued them until Kendebaios came to Kedron, which he had built.

And they fled to the towers of Ashdod in the land of the aliens, and there fell of them about two thousand men, and he returned to the land of Judea in peace.

And Ptolemy, the son of Abubus, was made captain in the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold.

And he was the son-in-law of the high priest. But his heart was lifted up, and he sought to get the mastery of the country, and he purposed deceit against Simon and his sons, that he might destroy them.

And Simon was travelling about in the cities of the country, attending to their affairs, and he went down to Jericho, he and Mattathias and Judah his sons, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year, in the month of Shebat.

And the son of Abubus received them into a small fortress, which he had built, called Docus, and he dealt deceitfully with them, and made them a great feast, and hid men there.

And when Simon and his sons were drunken, Ptolemy rose up with his men, and took their weapons, and rushed upon Simon at the feast and slew him and his two sons and some of his servants.

And he committed a great treason, and recompensed good with evil.

Then Ptolemy wrote concerning these things and sent to the king, that he should send him an army to assist him, and he would deliver unto him the country and the cities.

And he sent men to Gazara to destroy John, and he sent letters to the captains of thousands to come to him, that he might give them silver and gifts and gold.

And others he sent to seize Jerusalem and the mountain of the temple.

But one ran before, and told John at Gazara of the destruction of his father and his brethren, and that Ptolemy had sent to kill him.

And when he heard this, he was sore amazed, and he laid hold on the men that came to kill him, and put them to death, for he knew that they sought to destroy him.

Now the rest of the acts of John, and his battles, and the valiant deeds that he did, and the building of the walls which he built, and his works, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of his high priesthood, from the time that he became high priest after his father.