1 Maccabees 7:8-10

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁸ So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king’s Friends, governor of the province Beyond the River; he was a great man in the kingdom and was faithful to the king.^{(A) 9} He sent him, and with him he sent the ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest, and he commanded him to take vengeance on the Israelites.^{(B) 10} So they marched away and came with a large force into the land of Judah, and he sent messengers to Judas and his brothers with peaceable but treacherous words.