d the gifts which he had formerly given with a
liberal hand, in which he had surpassed the kings who had been before him.
And he was exceedingly perplexed in his mind, and determined to go into
Persia and to take the tributes of the countries and to gather much money.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 3:32-37]
So he left Lysias, an honorable man and one of the royal family in charge
of the affairs of the king from the River Euphrates to the borders of
Egypt and to bring up his son Antiochus, until he returned. And he
delivered to him the half of his forces and the elephants, and gave him
charge of all the things that he wished to have done and concerning those
who dwelt in Judea and in Jerusalem, that he should send a force against
them, to root out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of
Jerusalem, and to take away their memory from the place, and that he
should make foreigners dwell in all their territory and should divide
their land to them by lot. Then the king took the remaining half of the
forces and set out from Antioch his capital, in the one hundred and
forty-seventh year, and, crossing the Euphrates, he went through the upper
countries.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 3:38-41]
Now Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias,
influential men among the king's Friends, and with them sent forty
thousand footmen and seven thousand horsemen to go into the land of Judah
to destroy it, as the king had ordered. And they set out with all their
army and pitched their camp near Emmaus in the plain. And the merchants of
the country heard the rumors about them, and taking silver and gold in
large quantities, and shackles, they came into the camp to get the
Israelites for slaves. There were added to them the forces of Syria and of
the Philistines.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 3:42, 43, 46-54]
Then Judas and his brothers saw that evils were increasing and that the
forces were encamping in their territory, and when they learned of the
commands which the king had given to destroy the people and make an end of
them, they said to each other,

Let us raise up the ruin of our people
And let us fight for our people and the sanctuary;

So they gathered together and came to Mizpeh, opposite Jerusalem; for in
Mizpeh there was a place of prayer for Israel. And they fasted that day,
and put sackcloth and ashes on their heads and tore their clothes, and
spread out the book of the law--one of those in which the heathen had been
p