16
By reason thereof sore calamity came upon them; for they held them to be their enemies and avengers whose custom they followed so earnestly and unto whom they desired to be like in all things.
17
For it is not a light thing to do wickedly against the laws of God, but the time followig shall declare these things.
18
Now when the game that was held every fifth year was kept at Tyre, the king being present,
19
this ungracious Jason sent special messengers from Jerusalem, who were Antiochians, to carry three hundred drachmas of silver for the sacrifice to Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought not fit to bestow upon the sacrifice because it was not proper, but to be reserved for other charges.
20
This money then, as intended by the sender, was appointed for Hercules' sacrifice; but because of the bearers thereof, it was employed in the making of galleys.
21
Now when Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent into Egypt for the coronation of King Ptolemy Philometor, Antiochus, understanding him not to be well-disposed to his affairs, provided for his own safety. Thereupon he came to Joppa and from thence to Jerusalem,
22
where he was honorably received by Jason and by the city, and was brought in with torchlight and with great shoutings; and so afterward went with his host into Phoenicia.
23
Three years afterward, Jason sent Menelaus, the aforesaid Simon's brother, to bear the money unto the king, and to put him in mind of certain necessary matters.
24
But he, being brought to the presence of the king, when he had magnified him for the glorious appearance of his power, got the priesthood for himself, offering more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
25
So he came with the king's mandate, bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage beast.
26
Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being undermined by another, was compelled to flee into the country of the Ammonites.