1
As King Antiochus the Fourth was passing through Mesopotamia, he heard of a city in Persia, named Elymais, which was famous for its riches in silver and gold.
2
The temple was very rich, containing gold shields, armor, and weapons left there by Alexander, son of King Philip of Macedonia, who was the first to rule the Greek Empire.
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.
1
8
When the king heard this report, he was so dumbfounded and terribly shaken that he went to bed in a fit of deep depression because things had not turned out as he had hoped.
9
He remained ill for a long time, as waves of despair swept over him, until he finally realized that he was going to die.
10
He called together all those to whom he had given the title "Friends of the King" and said to them, "I cannot sleep, and my heart is broken with grief and worry.