1. After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip’s son, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first ruled in Greece.
2. He fought many battles, captured fortresses, and put the kings of the earth to death.
3. He advanced to the ends of the earth, gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before him, and his heart became proud and arrogant.
4. He collected a very strong army and won dominion over provinces, nations, and rulers, and they paid him tribute.
5. But after all this he took to his bed, realizing that he was going to die.
6. So he summoned his noblest officers, who had been brought up with him from his youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive.
7. Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.
8. So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory,
9. and after his death they all put on diadems, and so did their sons after them for many years, multiplying evils on the earth.
10. There sprang from these a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
11. In those days there appeared in Israel transgressors of the law who seduced many, saying: “Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us.”