The Temple Restored and the Death of Antiochus

After defeating the enemy, Judas went back to Jerusalem and set his mind on purifying and restoring the temple. Antiochus had torn it down and the Gentiles had profaned it, and it was a sad sight. But the Syrians held the citadel, which was joined to the temple but stood above it, and was in fact impossible to take. Because of that, the lower parts could not be reached, since frequent sorties from above kept people from approaching them. But Judas set a very strong body of his men against these attackers. In this way the work on the sacred building was protected, and the temple was surrounded with a wall, with armed men appointed to guard it continually. Lysias came back into Judea again with larger forces, and once more he was defeated, with heavy losses both to his own army and to the auxiliaries that various states had sent to join him in the war. [a]

Meanwhile Antiochus, who, as we said above, had marched into Persia, tried to plunder the town of Elymus, the wealthiest in the country, and a temple there that was full of gold. But a crowd flocked together from every side to defend the place, and he was put to flight. On top of that, news reached him of the failure of Lysias’s efforts. So, from distress of mind, he fell ill in body. And as he was tormented with pains deep inside him, he remembered the miseries he had brought on the people of God and admitted that these evils had been sent on him deservedly. Then, a few days later, he died, having reigned eleven years. He left the kingdom to his son Antiochus, who was given the name Eupator.