17. It is a serious thing to disregard God's law, as you will see from the following events.
18. Once when the king was present for the athletic games that were held every five years in the city of Tyre,
19. that worthless Jason sent some men there from Jerusalem, who were also enrolled as citizens of Antioch, to take ten tonnes of silver to pay for a sacrifice to the god Hercules. But even these men did not think it was fitting to use such a large sum of money for a sacrifice, and
20. so the money originally intended as a sacrifice to Hercules was used for the construction of warships.
21. When Apollonius son of Menestheus was sent to Egypt to attend the crowning of Philometor as king, Antiochus learnt that Philometor was opposed to his policies. Antiochus became concerned about the security of his own kingdom, so he went to Joppa and then on to Jerusalem.
22. There he was welcomed with great splendour by Jason and the people of the city who went out to greet him, shouting and carrying torches. From Jerusalem Antiochus led his army to Phoenicia.