1 Then Antiochus, son of King Demetrius, sent a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon, the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to all the nation.
2 It contained the following: “Antiochus the King to Simon, high priest and ethnarch, and the nation of the Jews, greetings.
3 Since certain troublemakers gained the mastery over the kingdom of our fathers, I wish to lay claim to the kingdom so I can establish it as it was before. I have recruited a multitude of troops and prepared war ships.
4 I plan to go throughout the nation, that I may pursue those who laid our country to ruin and desolated many of its cities.
5 Now therefore, I validate your tax remissions, which the kings before me forgave you, and whatever other payments they remitted for you.
6 I also authorize you to make your own coinage as money for your nation,
7 and allow Jerusalem and the sanctuary to be free. All the weapons you prepared and the fortresses you built, which you seized, let them remain with you.
8 Every money you owe the royal treasury, as well as future debts, let them be remitted from now on and for all time.
9 As soon as we regain control of our kingdom, we will honor you and your nation and the temple with great glory, that your glory may be evident in all the earth.”
10 In the one hundred seventy-fourth year, King Antiochus went to the land of his fathers and all his soldiers went with him. Few sided with Trypho.
11 When Antiochus went after him, he fled to Dora by sea,
12 for he knew that calamity had come upon him. His armies deserted him.
13 Then Antiochus set up camp opposite Dora with one hundred and twenty thousand fighting men and eight thousand cavalry.
14 He encircled the city, and the ships joined the battle from the sea. So he pressed hard against the city by land and sea and did not allow anyone to leave or enter.
15 Then Numenius and his men came from Rome with letters to the kings and their countries, in which the following was contained:
16 “Lucius, the Roman consul, to Ptolemy the king, greetings.
17 The ambassadors of the Jews came to us as friends and allies to renew their longstanding friendship and alliance. They were sent from Simon, the high priest, and by the Jewish people,
18 and brought a gold shield of a thousand minas.
19 Therefore it pleased us to write the kings and their countries, that they not seek to hurt them or wage war against them and their cities and country, or form alignments with those who fight them.
20 It seems right to accept the shield from them.
21 If therefore any troublemakers have escaped from their country to you, give them over to Simon the high priest, that he might prosecute them according to their law.”
22 The consul wrote identical letters to King Demetrius, and to Attalus, Ariarathes, and Arsaces,
23 and to all the nations, to Sampsames, and the Spartans, and to Delos, Myndos, Sieyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Arados, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene.
24 They also sent a copy to Simon the high priest.
25 Meanwhile, King Antiochus besieged Dora a second time, repeatedly launching his forces against it and building engines of war. He put Trypho in confinement, so he could neither go out or go in.
26 Then Simon sent Antiochus two thousand chosen men as allies, along with silver, gold, and considerable weaponry.
27 But Antiochus decided not to accept these things; he broke all the former agreements he had made with Simon, becoming estranged from him.
28 Then he sent Athenobius, one of his friends, to confer with him, saying, “You control Joppa, Gazara, and the citadel in Jerusalem; they are cities of my kingdom.
29 You desolated their territory and caused great damage in the land; and you rule over many places in my kingdom.
30 Now therefore, give back the cities you took and the taxes from the places you rule outside the boundaries of Judea.
31 Otherwise, give me five hundred talents of silver for them, as well as five hundred talents more for the destruction you caused and for the tribute of the cities; or else we will wage war and defeat you.”
32 When Athenobius, the friend of the king, entered Jerusalem and saw the glory of Simon and the sideboard plated with gold and silver, a magnificent display, he stood amazed. Then he reported the words of the king to him.
33 Thus Simon answered and said to him, “We have not taken any foreign land, nor have we captured foreign property, but only the inheritance of our fathers, which years ago was seized unjustly by our adversaries.
34 But now that we have occasion, we are holding firmly to the inheritance of our fathers.
35 And as for Joppa and Gazara, which you want, their people were causing great damage to our people and our country. For them we will give you one hundred talents.”
36 Athenobius said not a word in reply, but returned to the king in anger. When he relayed to him these words, plus Simon's splendor and everything he witnessed, the king was extremely enraged.
37 Now Trypho had boarded a ship and escaped to Orthosia.
38 So the king made Cendebeus his commander-in-chief of the seacoast and gave him infantry soldiers and cavalry.
39 He then ordered him to encamp opposite Judea, and further ordered him to build Kedron and strengthen its gates, and to wage war against the people. But the king himself pursued Trypho.
40 When Cendebeus arrived in Jamnia, he began to harass the people. He also invaded Judea, took people captive, and killed them.
41 Then he built up Kedron and stationed cavalry and soldiers there, so they could march through the roads of Judea, making roads as the king commanded him.