1. In the year 160, Alexander Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the Fourth, landed at Ptolemais and captured it. The people welcomed him as their king.
2. When King Demetrius heard of it, he gathered a large army and went out to meet him in battle.
3. At that time Demetrius sent Jonathan a friendly letter full of flattery,
4. in the hope of winning Jonathan over to his side and making peace with the Jews before Alexander made a treaty with them against him.
5. Demetrius thought that Jonathan would certainly remember all the wrongs he had done to him, his brothers, and the entire Jewish nation.
6. And so Demetrius made Jonathan his ally and gave him authority to raise an army and equip it. He also ordered that the hostages held in the fort at Jerusalem should be handed over to Jonathan.
7. So Jonathan went to Jerusalem and read the letter to all the people and to the men in the fort.
8. These men were terrified when they learnt that the king had given Jonathan authority to raise an army.
9. They handed the hostages over to him, and he returned them to their parents.