1 When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had been defeated in battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah a second time. The right wing of the army was with them.
2 They went by the road that leads to Gilgal and prepared for battle against Mesaloth in Arbela. They captured it and killed many people.
3 In the first month of the year 152, they camped against Jerusalem.
4 Then they marched off and went to Berea with twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry.
5 Now Judas was camped at Elasa with three thousand handpicked soldiers.
6 When they saw the huge number of enemy forces, they became afraid. Many of them slipped away from the camp, until no more than eight hundred of them remained.
7 When Judas saw that members of his army had slipped away and the battle was coming close, he was dejected because he had no time to assemble more troops.