138:10.9

But the people of the citadel in Jerusalem were hindered from going out and from going into the country, and from buying and selling. So they were very hungry, and a great number of them perished from famine. Then they cried out to Simon, that he should give them his right hand; and he gave it to them; but he expelled them from there, and he cleansed the citadel from its pollutions. He entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, with praise and palm branches, with harps, with cymbals, and with stringed instruments, with hymns, and with songs, because a great enemy had been destroyed out of Israel. Simon ordained that they should keep that day every year with gladness. He made the hill of the temple that was by the citadel stronger than before, and he lived there with his men. Simon saw that his son John was a man, so he made him leader of all his forces; and he lived in Gazara.

In those days Simon encamped against Gazara, and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege engine, and brought it up to the city, and struck a tower, and captured it. Those who were in the engine leaped out into the city; and there was a great uproar in the city. The people of the city tore their clothes, and went up on the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, asking Simon to give them his right hand. They said, “Don’t deal with us according to our wickednesses, but according to your mercy.” So Simon was reconciled to them, and didn’t fight against them; but he expelled them from the city and cleansed the houses where the idols were, and then entered into it with singing and giving praise. He removed all uncleanness out of it, and placed in it men who would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built a dwelling place for himself in it.

The land had rest all the days of Simon. He sought the good of his nation. His authority and his honor was pleasing to them all his days. Amid all his honors, he took Joppa for a harbor, and made it an entrance for the islands of the sea. He enlarged the borders of his nation and took possession of the country. He gathered together a great number of captives, and took control of Gazara, Bethsura, and the citadel, and he removed its uncleannesses from it. There was no one who resisted him. They tilled their land in peace, and the land gave her increase, and the trees of the plains gave their fruit. The old men sat in the streets; they all conversed together about good things. The young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided food for the cities and furnished them with means of defense, until the glory of his name was known to the end of the earth. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. Each man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was no one to make them afraid. No one was left in the land who fought against them. The kings were defeated in those days. He strengthened all those of his people who were humble. He searched out the law, and every lawless and wicked person he took away. He glorified the sanctuary, and added to the vessels of the temple.