In the one hundred forty-ninth year, Judah’s men understood that Antiochus Eupator was coming into Judea with a great host.

And with him Lysias, steward and manager of affairs, and with them an army of Greeks, composed of one hundred ten thousand footmen, and five thousand three hundred horsemen, and twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots of scythes. And a man from the Jewish army, named Rhodocus, revealed the enemy’s secrets, so they sought him out, seized him, and imprisoned him. And after Judas fought and was broken, he heard that Philip, who had been left in Antioch to manage affairs, had rebelled against him. So he fell into perplexity, and pleaded with the Jews and was indebted to them, and made a covenant with them to grant them all their rights, and made peace with them, and offered sacrifice, and honored the temple, and treated the place with kindness.

So Menelaus joined them and began to incite Antiochus with all manner of flattery, not caring for the salvation of the homeland, but his only concern was to return to the presidency.

But the King of kings stirred up the wrath of Antiochus against that impious man, for Lysias informed him that the man was the cause of all those evils. So he ordered that he be taken to Beroea to be put to death according to the custom of the country.

And there was a tower fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and in it a round machine that plunges its rider from all sides into the ashes.

In that place, that defiler of the temple, who had been the cause of many evils, was destroyed, pushed by the hands of all.

And by this death died the hypocrite Menelaus, and he did not obtain a burial place to be interred there.

And that was just in every way, for he, having committed many crimes against the altar whose fire and ashes are pure, tasted his death in the ashes.

As for the king, he continued to advance with his pride and cruelty, threatening the Jews with some of the calamities that his father had inflicted upon them.

When Judah learned of this, he ordered the people to pray to the Lord day and night to help them on that day, as He had done before.

For they were on the verge of the utter destruction of the Law, the homeland, and the holy Temple, and that He would not allow the blaspheming Gentiles to humiliate His people, whom He had liberated only a little while ago.

So they all did so and entreated the merciful Lord with fasting, weeping, and prostrating themselves for three days without ceasing. Then Judah encouraged them and commanded them to assemble.

And he met privately with the elders, and they made a counsel to go out and settle the matter with the Lord’s support before the king's army entered Judea and took possession of the city.

So he entrusted the matter to the Creator of all things and urged his companions to fight valiantly and sacrifice themselves for the Law, the Temple, the city, the homeland, and the state, and he pitched his camp near Modin.

And he gave them the watchword “Victory by God.” Then he selected some chosen young men and attacked the king’s camp at night, killing four thousand men, and destroying the first of the elephants with the people who were in its tower.

And they filled the camp with terror and confusion, so they returned victorious by the protection of the Lord that surrounded him.

And this victory was achieved for him at dawn.

When the king tasted the might of the Jews, he resorted to taking strongholds by stratagem.

So he besieged Beth-zur, which was a strong fortress for the Jews, but he was defeated and returned overthrown and routed.

And Judah supplied those within with what they needed.

So the king returned and spoke with the inhabitants of Beth-zur and offered them peace. So they made a covenant with him, and he departed.

And he made peace with Maccabeus and appointed him commander and governor of the land from Ptolemais to the borders of the Gerrenians.

Then he came to Ptolemais. And the inhabitants of the city were distressed by that covenant and disapproved of his breaking his covenants.

So Lysias went to the assembly and presented all the arguments he could, so he convinced them and appeased them and inclined them to gentleness. Then he returned to Antioch. And so the king's coming and returning ended.