^12 (A)for it was God who drove out those who fought against the holy city. ¹³ When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea^[a] through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea’s priests. ^14 [b]On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures as a dowry. ¹⁵ When the priests of Nanea’s temple had displayed the treasures and Antiochus with a few attendants had come inside the wall of the temple precincts, the priests locked the temple as soon as he entered. ¹⁶ Then they opened a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling, and hurling stones at the leader and his companions, struck them down. They dismembered the bodies, cut off their heads and tossed them to the people outside. ¹⁷ Forever blessed be our God, who has thus punished the impious!

Chapter 6

^1 (A)As King Antiochus passed through the eastern provinces, he heard that in Persia there was a city, Elam,^[a] famous for its wealth in silver and gold, ² and that its temple was very rich, containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons left there by the first king of the Greeks, Alexander, son of Philip, king of Macedon. ³ He went therefore and tried to capture and loot the city. But he could not do so, because his plan became known to the people of the city ⁴ who rose up in battle against him. So he fled and in great dismay withdrew from there to return to Babylon.

⁵ While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news that the armies that had gone into the land of Judah had been routed; ⁶ that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army and been driven back; that the people of Judah had grown strong by reason of the arms, wealth, and abundant spoils taken from the armies they had cut down; ⁷ that they had pulled down the abomination which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded with high walls both the sanctuary, as it had been before, and his city of Beth-zur.^(B)

⁸ When the king heard this news, he was astonished and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed. ⁹ There he remained many days, assailed by waves of grief, for he thought he was going to die. ¹⁰ So he called in all his Friends and said to them: “Sleep has departed from my eyes, and my heart sinks from anxiety. ¹¹ I said to myself: ‘Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now! Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.’ ¹² But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of silver and gold that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. ¹³ I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.”

^40 [a]“At the end time the king of the south shall engage him in battle but the king of the north shall overwhelm him with chariots and horsemen and a great fleet, passing through the lands like a flood. ⁴¹ He shall enter the glorious land and many shall fall, except Edom, Moab, and the chief part of Ammon, which shall escape his power. ⁴² He shall extend his power over the land, and not even Egypt shall escape. ⁴³ He shall control the riches of gold and silver and all the treasures of Egypt; Libya and Ethiopia shall be in his entourage. ⁴⁴ When reports from the east and the north disturb him, he shall set out with great fury to destroy many, putting them under the ban. ⁴⁵ He shall pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, but he shall come to his end with none to help him.