21
but we fight for our lives and our laws.
22
He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them."
23
When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him.
24
They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25
Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them.
26
His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.
27
When king Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28
And he opened his coffers and gave a year's pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need.
29
Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster which he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30
He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings.
31
He was greatly perplexed in mind, and determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.