For at that time, Antiochus prepared to invade Egypt a second time. When tidings of these things came unto the king, he accused the Jews of revolt against him, and marched from Egypt, having a proud heart; and took the city by force. And he commanded the soldiers to slay without mercy every one they met, and to butcher those who sheltered themselves in their houses. Then they began to destroy young and old, and men and women, and children and virgins, and to butcher infants. And not content with this, he presumed to enter the temple, which is the holiest place in all the earth; his guide being Menelaus, who had betrayed the law and his country. And had it not been for their many transgressions, he would, upon entering, have been scourged and turned back from his audaciousness, as happened to Heliodorus, whom King Seleucus sent to inspect the treasury. But the Lord took not the nation for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation.

And it came to pass that for forty days throughout the whole city, there appeared horsemen running in the air, clothed in golden garments, and with spears in their hands, and they were arrayed in battalions. Therefore, as the place shared in the calamities of the nation, so it returned to share in the mercies of the Lord. And after the Almighty deserted him in His wrath, he attained all glory upon his repentance. And Andronicus in Gerizim, and also Menelaus, who was more tyrannical over the people than both of them. Then his hatred for the Jewish subjects led him to send Apollonius, the detested commander, with twenty-two thousand soldiers, and he commanded him to slay every adult among them, and to sell the women and children.

And troop against troop met with violent encounter, and the clashing of shields and a multitude of spears, and drawing of swords, and showering of arrows, and the glittering of golden ornaments and all sorts of armor.

So all implored that the outcome of this sign might be good.

And some spread rumors that Antiochus had died; then Jason gathered an army of less than a thousand men and attacked the city unexpectedly, so that as he drove back those on the walls and was on the point of taking the city, Menelaus fled into the citadel.

Then Jason began to slay his own countrymen without mercy, not considering that victory over brethren is utter failure, so that this triumph of his was over enemies, and not over the children of his own nation.

But he did not obtain the sovereignty, but at last the shame of his conspiracy overtook him, and he fled again to the land of the children of Ammon.

And the end of his career was a dire reversal, for Aretas, the ruler of the Arabs, drove him away, so he fled from city to city, and all cast him out and hated him with the hatred of one who had apostatized from the law, and loathed him with the loathing of one who was a murderer of his countrymen, until he was driven to Egypt.

So it was that he who had exiled many perished in exile in the land of Lacedaemon, whither he had fled for refuge by reason of kinship.

And he who had cast out many without burial, lay unwept for, unburied, nor had he a grave in his own country.

So eighty thousand souls perished in three days, forty thousand in battle, and no fewer than the slain were sold.

And with his defiled hands, he took the holy vessels, together with what foreign kings had offered for the adornment, splendor, and honor of the place; and with his polluted hands he seized them and departed.

And Antiochus was uplifted in his heart, and did not perceive that God was wroth for a season because of the sins of the inhabitants of the city, and that therefore He had neglected the place.

And Antiochus carried away from the temple eighteen hundred talents, and hastened to return to Antioch, his pride imagining and his heart swelling that he could traverse the land by ships, and the sea on foot.

And he left governors to oppress the nation, among whom was Philip in Jerusalem, who was of Phrygian origin, and more savage in disposition than he who appointed him.

And when he arrived at Jerusalem, he pretended peace, and tarried until the holy Sabbath day; then when the Jews entered into their rest, he commanded his men to arm themselves.

And he slew all that came forth to behold, then he stormed the city with arms and destroyed a multitude of people.

And Judas Maccabeus had withdrawn into the wilderness, being the tenth of ten, and remained with his companions in the mountains, living as wild beasts and eating herbs, lest they should partake of defilement.