1 After a very short time, Lysias the guardian of the king and relative, who was in charge of the government, became extremely displeased at what happened.
1
After a very short time, Lysias the guardian of the king and relative, who was in charge of the government, became extremely displeased at what happened.
2
He led eighty thousand troops and all his cavalry against the Jews. He intended to make the city a Greek territory,
3
to make the temple subject to tribute like the sacred sites of other nations, and to put the high priesthood on sale every year.
4
He gave no thought whatsoever to the power of God but was inflated by his tens of thousands of foot soldiers, his thousands of cavalry, and his eighty elephants.
5
He entered Judea, drew near to Beth-zur (a strongly fortified town about a half mile from Jerusalem), and attacked it.