Simon encamped before Beth-zur and fought against it for many days and hemmed it in: Beth-zur was the last of the Syrian forts in Palestine outside Jerusalem that was still occupied by Syrian soldiers (see 1Macc 10.14). This had long been a sore point. The local population had been forced out when Lysias took the city (1Macc 6.48-50). Bacchides refortified it (1Macc 9.52), and it became a place of refuge for Jews hostile to the Maccabees (10.14). Demetrius~II had promised to remove the troops (verses 41-42), but had broken his word (verse 53). Here Simon Maccabeus took measures to force the enemy out. An alternative model for this verse is:

• Simon moved his army to the town of Bethzur, attacked it, and kept it surrounded for many days.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.