2 Maccabees 9 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Last Campaign of Antiochus Epiphanes

9 About that time, as it happened, Anti′ochus had retreated in disorder from the region of Persia. ² For he had entered the city called Persep′olis, and attempted to rob the temples and control the city. Therefore the people rushed to the rescue with arms, and Anti′ochus and his men were defeated,^[a] with the result that Anti′ochus was put to flight by the inhabitants and beat a shameful retreat. ³ While he was in Ecbat′ana, news came to him of what had happened to Nica′nor and the forces of Timothy. ⁴ Transported with rage, he conceived the idea of turning upon the Jews the injury done by those who had put him to flight; so he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he completed the journey. But the judgment of heaven rode with him! For in his arrogance he said, “When I get there I will make Jerusalem a cemetery of Jews.”

⁵ But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he ceased speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp internal tortures— ⁶ and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. ⁷ Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. ⁸ Thus he who had just been thinking that he could command the waves of the sea, in his superhuman arrogance, and imagining that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. ⁹ And so the ungodly man’s body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of his stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. ¹⁰ Because of his intolerable stench no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven. ¹¹ Then it was that, broken in spirit, he began to lose much of his arrogance and to come to his senses under the scourge of God, for he was tortured with pain every moment. ¹² And when he could not endure his own stench, he uttered these words: “It is right to be subject to God, and no mortal should think that he is equal to God.”^[b]

Antiochus Makes a Promise to God

¹³ Then the abominable fellow made a vow to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him, stating ¹⁴ that the holy city, which he was hastening to level to the ground and to make a cemetery, he was now declaring to be free; ¹⁵ and the Jews, whom he had not considered worth burying but had planned to throw out with their children to the beasts, for the birds to pick, he would make, all of them, equal to citizens of Athens; ¹⁶ and the holy sanctuary, which he had formerly plundered, he would adorn with the finest offerings; and the holy vessels he would give back, all of them, many times over; and the expenses incurred for the sacrifices he would provide from his own revenues; ¹⁷ and in addition to all this he also would become a Jew and would visit every inhabited place to proclaim the power of God. ¹⁸ But when his sufferings did not in any way abate, for the judgment of God had justly come upon him, he gave up all hope for himself and wrote to the Jews the following letter, in the form of a supplication. This was its content:

Antiochus’s Letter and Death

¹⁹ “To his worthy Jewish citizens, Anti′ochus their king and general sends hearty greetings and good wishes for their health and prosperity. ²⁰ If you and your children are well and your affairs are as you wish, I am glad. As my hope is in heaven, ²¹ I remember with affection your esteem and good will. On my way back from the region of Persia I suffered an annoying illness, and I have deemed it necessary to take thought for the general security of all. ²² I do not despair of my condition, for I have good hope of recovering from my illness, ²³ but I observed that my father, on the occasions when he made expeditions into the upper country, appointed his successor, ²⁴ so that, if anything unexpected happened or any unwelcome news came, the people throughout the realm would not be troubled, for they would know to whom the government was left. ²⁵ Moreover, I understand how the princes along the borders and the neighbors to my kingdom keep watching for opportunities and waiting to see what will happen. So I have appointed my son Anti′ochus to be king, whom I have often entrusted and commended to most of you when I hastened off to the upper provinces; and I have written to him what is written here. ²⁶ I therefore urge and beseech you to remember the public and private services rendered to you and to maintain your present good will, each of you, toward me and my son. ²⁷ For I am sure that he will follow my policy and will treat you with moderation and kindness.”

²⁸ So the murderer and blasphemer, having endured the most intense suffering, such as he had inflicted on others, came to the end of his life by a most pitiable fate, among the mountains in a strange land. ²⁹ And Philip, one of his courtiers, took his body home; then, fearing the son of Anti′ochus, he betook himself to Ptol′emy Philome′tor in Egypt.

Footnotes

1. 2 Maccabees 9:2 Gk they were defeated
2. 2 Maccabees 9:12 Or think thoughts proper only to God