7. Because of this, they now preferred to carry boughs and green branches and palms, for him who had prospered the cleansing of his place.
8. And they decreed a common precept and decree, that all the people of the Jews should keep those days every year.
9. Now certainly Antiochus, who was called illustrious, held himself to be so at the passing of his life.
10. But next we will describe what happened with Eupator, the son of the impious Antiochus, abridging the evils which happened in the wars.
11. For when he assumed the kingdom, he appointed, over the affairs of the kingdom, a certain Lysias, leader of the Phoenician and Syrian military.
12. For Ptolemy, who was called Macer, decided to be strict in justice toward the Jews, especially because of the iniquity that had been done to them, and to deal with them peacefully.
13. But, for this reason, he was accused before Eupator by his friends, and was frequently called a traitor. For he had deserted Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him. And so, transferring to Antiochus the illustrious, he even withdrew from him. And he ended his life by poison.
14. But Gorgias, when he was the leader of the places, taking to him new arrivals, frequently made war against the Jews.
15. In truth, the Jews, who held the strategic fortresses, took in those who were fleeing from Jerusalem, and they attempted to make war.
16. In fact, those who were with Maccabeus, petitioning the Lord through prayers to be their helper, made a forceful attack upon the fortresses of the Idumeans.
17. And, persevering with much force, they obtained the places, killing those they met, and cutting down in all no less than twenty thousand.
18. Yet certain ones, when they had fled into two well-fortified towers, gave all appearance of fighting back.
19. So Maccabeus left behind Simon and Joseph, and likewise Zachaeus, and those who were with them, to fight against them. And since those who were with them were sufficient in number, he turned back to those who attacked more forcefully.
20. In truth, those who were with Simon, being led by avarice, were persuaded by money from certain ones who were in the towers. And accepting seventy thousand didrachmas, they allowed certain ones to flee.