1 Maccabees 13:43-48
New Catholic Bible
43 Simon Captures Gazara. About that time, Simon besieged Gazara[a] and surrounded it with troops. He constructed a siege-machine, and after he had brought it up to the town, he opened a breach in one of the towers and captured it. 44 The men leapt from the siege-machine into the city, and a great tumult arose there. 45 The men of the city, with their wives and children, mounted the walls with their garments torn, and they cried out loudly, imploring Simon to make peace with them. 46 “Do not treat us as our wickedness deserves,” they said, “but according to your mercy.”
47 Simon reached an agreement with them and did not destroy them. However, he expelled them from the city, and he purified the houses that contained idols. Then he entered the city with hymns and songs of praise. 48 After removing everything from it that was unclean, he settled there people who observed the law. He also strengthened its fortifications and built a residence for himself.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Maccabees 13:43 Gazara: a key position in the Shephelah, fortified by Bacchides in 160 B.C.; see 1 Mac 9:52; a Greek inscription hostile to Simon has been found there. Siege-machine: a tower on wheels housing men with catapults and battering rams that could breach fortified walls.
