1 Maccabees 3:27-29

Common English Bible

Policy of Antiochus

²⁷ When King Antiochus heard about these matters, he became very angry. So he gathered together all the forces of his empire, a mighty army. ²⁸ He opened up his treasury and gave his soldiers a year’s pay in advance, and he ordered them to be ready for anything. ²⁹ Then he realized that the money in his treasury was all used up. The revenues from the country were small because of the turmoil and disaster that he had brought about in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from early days.