2. But it happened, throughout the entire city of Jerusalem, that there were seen, for forty days, horsemen rushing through the air, having golden robes, and armed with spears, like a cohort of soldiers,
3. and horses, set in order by ranks, running, coming together to engage in close combat, and the shaking of shields, and a helmeted multitude stretching forth swords, and the casting of darts, and the splendor of golden armor, and all kinds of breastplates.
4. Because of this, everyone begged that these prodigies might be turned to good.
5. But when a false rumor went out, as though the life of Antiochus had expired, Jason, taking with him no less than one thousand men, suddenly assaulted the city. And, though the citizens together rushed to the wall, the city at last was taken, and Menelaus fled into the stronghold.
6. Truly, Jason did not spare his citizens from the slaughter; not realizing that success at the expense of kin is a very great evil, he considered those over whom he was victorious to be enemies, and not citizens.
7. And so, he certainly did not obtain the leadership, but truly, in the end, received confusion for his betrayals, and he departed again to take refuge among the Ammonites.
8. In the end, to his ruin, he was enclosed by Aretas, the sovereign of the Arabs. And then, fleeing from city to city, hated by all as a detestable fugitive from the laws, and as an enemy of his own nation and citizens, he was expelled into Egypt.
9. And he who had expelled many from their native land perished abroad, starting out toward the Lacedaemonians, as if, for the sake of kinship, he should have refuge there.
10. And he who cast out many, unburied, was himself also cast out, both unlamented and unburied, and without having use of either foreign burial or a share of the sepulcher of his fathers.
11. And so, when these things were done, the king suspected that the Jews would desert the alliance. And because of this, departing from Egypt with a raging soul, he indeed took the city by force.
12. Moreover, he ordered the military to execute, and not to spare, anyone they met, and to ascend through the houses to slay.
13. Therefore, a massacre occurred of youths and elders, an extermination of women and children, a killing of virgins and little ones.
14. And so, over three whole days, eighty thousand were executed, forty thousand were imprisoned, and no small number were sold.
15. But, as if this were not enough, he even presumed to enter into the most holy temple in the entire world, with Menelaus, that traitor to the law and to his own nation, as his guide.
16. And, taking in his wicked hands the holy vessels, which were given by other kings and cities for the adornment and glory of the place, he unworthily handled and contaminated them.
17. So Antiochus, having gone astray in mind, did not consider that, because of the sins of the inhabitants of the city, God had become angry for a while, and so, for this reason, contempt had fallen upon the place.
18. Otherwise, if it had not happened that they were involved in so many sins, as with Heliodorus, who was sent by king Seleucus to plunder the treasury, so also this one, as soon as he had arrived, certainly would have been scourged and driven away from his audacity.