The Death of Antiochus the Fourth^(A)

6 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 (B)The Jews had pulled down the thing they called

¹¹ We thank God because he saved us from great danger. We were like men ready to fight against a king, ¹² but God drove the enemy from our holy city. ^13 (A)When King Antiochus arrived in Persia, his army seemed impossible to defeat, but they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea by an act of treachery on the part of her priests. ¹⁴ King Antiochus had gone to the temple with some of his most trusted advisers, so that he might marry the goddess and then take away most of the temple treasures as a wedding gift. ¹⁵ After the priests had laid out the treasure, he and a few of his men went into the temple to collect it. But the priests closed the doors behind him ¹⁶ and stoned him and his men from trap doors hidden in the ceiling. Then they cut up the bodies and threw the heads to the people outside. ¹⁷ Praise God for punishing those evil men! Praise him for everything!