3
Antiochus came and tried to take the city and loot it, but he didn't succeed, because the citizens had learned what he was planning to do,
4
and they drew up their troops to resist him. In great frustration he withdrew to return to Babylonia.
5
In Persia a messenger reached him with the news that the armies he had sent into Judea had been defeated.
6
Lysias and his strong army had been forced to flee from the Jews, who were now reinforced by the additional weapons, supplies, and loot they had taken from the defeated armies.
7
The Jews had pulled down the thing they called "The Awful Horror" that Antiochus had built on the altar in Jerusalem. They had also surrounded the Temple with high walls, as it had been before, and had taken and fortified the town of Bethzur, one of the king's own towns.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.