1 Maccabees 3:37-39

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

³⁷ Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year.^[a] He crossed the Euphra′tes river and went through the upper provinces.

Preparations for Battle

³⁸ Lys′ias chose Ptol′emy the son of Dorym′enes, and Nica′nor and Gor′gias, mighty men among the friends of the king, ³⁹ and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded.