1 Maccabees 14:34-36

New Catholic Bible

³⁴ He also fortified Joppa by the sea and Gazara on the border of Azotus, formerly occupied by the enemy. He resettled Jews there and provided them with everything that was necessary for their restoration.

³⁵ “ ‘When the people recognized Simon’s loyalty and the glory that he was determined to win for his nation, they made him their leader and high priest because of everything he had accomplished and for the loyalty and justice he had maintained toward his nation, as in every possible way he sought to exalt his people.

³⁶ “ ‘In his time and under his leadership the Gentiles were driven out of their country, including those in the City of David in Jerusalem who had built for themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary and do grave damage to the state of its purity.