2 Maccabees 12:10-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Campaign in Gilead

¹⁰ When they had gone more than a mile^[a] from there on their march against Timothy, at least five thousand Arabs with five hundred cavalry attacked them.^{(A) 11} After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God’s help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to grant them pledges of friendship, promising to give him livestock and to help his people^[b] in all other ways. ¹² Judas, realizing that they might indeed be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them, and after receiving his pledges they went back to their tents.

¹³ He also attacked a certain town that was strongly fortified with earthworks^[c] and walls and inhabited by all sorts of nations. Its name was Caspin. ¹⁴ Those who were within, relying on the strength of the walls and on their supply of provisions, behaved most insolently toward Judas and his men, railing at them and even blaspheming and saying unholy things. ¹⁵ But Judas and his men, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering rams or engines of war overthrew Jericho in the days of Joshua, rushed furiously upon the walls.^{(B) 16} They took the town by the will of God and slaughtered untold numbers, so that the adjoining lake, a quarter of a mile^[d] wide, appeared to be running over with blood.