² All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.^(A)

⁵³ Simon saw that his son John had reached manhood, so he made him commander of all the forces, and he lived at Gazara.^(A)

²⁶ For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israel’s enemies and established its freedom.”^(A)

³⁶ In his days things prospered in his hands, so that the nations were put out of the^[a] country, as were also those in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had built themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary, doing great damage to its purity.^(A)