November 23, 2013, Reading

Macabees 1   6: 1-13

6:1 And king Antiochus was traveling through the upper regions, and he heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was very noble and abundant in silver and gold, 6:2 and that the temple in it was very opulent, and that there were, in that place, coverings of gold, and breastplates and shields, which Alexander, the son of Philip, king of Macedonia, who reigned first in Greece, had left behind. 6:3 So he came and sought to seize the city and to pillage it. And he was not able, because this plan became known to those who were in the city. 6:4 And they rose up in battle, and he fled away from there, and he departed with great sadness, and he returned into Babylon. 6:5 And someone arrived to report to him in Persia, that those who were in the land of Judah were forced to flee the camp, 6:6 and that Lysias went forth with a particularly strong army, and he was forced to flee before the face of the Jews, and that they were strengthened by the weapons, and resources, and many spoils which they seized from the camps they demolished, 6:7 and that they had destroyed the abomination, which he had established on the altar that was in Jerusalem, and that the sanctuary, just as before, had been encircled with high walls, along with Bethzur, his city. 6:8 And it happened that, when the king heard these words, he was terrified and very moved. And he fell down on his bed, and he fell into feebleness out of grief. For it had not happened to him as he had intended. 6:9 And he was in that place through many days. For a great grief was renewed in him, and he concluded that he would die. 6:10 And he called all his friends, and he said to them: “Sleep has withdrawn from my eyes, and I am declining, and my heart has collapsed out of anxiety. 6:11 And I said in my heart: How much trouble has come to me, and what floods of sorrow there are, where I am now! I used to be cheerful and beloved in my power! 6:12 Truly, now, I remember the evils that I did in Jerusalem, from which place I also took away all the spoils of gold and silver that were in it, and I sent to carry away the inhabitants of Judah without cause. 6:13 Therefore, I know that it is because of this that these evils have found me. And behold, I perish with great sorrow in a foreign land.”