1 Maccabees 3:29-31

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁹ Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted and that the tribute payments from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster that he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days. ³⁰ He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts that he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings. ³¹ He was greatly perplexed in mind; then he determined to go to Persia and collect the tribute payments from those regions and raise a large fund.^(A)