2 Maccabees 9:3-5

Good News Translation

³ When he reached Ecbatana, he was told what had happened to the forces of Nicanor and Timothy. ⁴ He became furious and decided to make the Jews pay for the defeat he had suffered. So he ordered his chariot driver not to stop until they reached Jerusalem. With great arrogance he said,

But he did not know that he was heading straight for God's judgment. ⁵ In fact, as soon as he had said these words, the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an invisible but fatal blow. He was seized with sharp intestinal pains for which there was no relief—