2 Maccabees 4

1But the previously mentioned Simon, who had become an informer against the money and the homeland, kept slandering Onias, as though he were the one who had incited Heliodorus and had become the author of the troubles.

2and he dared to call the benefactor of the city, the guardian of his fellow countrymen, and the zealot for the laws, a conspirator against the state.

3But the hostility advanced so far that even murders were being committed by one of those approved by Simon,

4When Onias saw the severity of the rivalry, and that Apollonius son of Menestheus, the governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, was increasing Simon’s wickedness,

5he presented himself to the king, not becoming an accuser of his fellow citizens, but seeking what was advantageous both publicly and privately for the whole multitude.

6For he saw that without royal intervention it was impossible for affairs to attain peace, and that Simon would not stop his folly.

7But when Seleucus passed from life, and Antiochus, the one called Epiphanes, took over the kingdom,

8Jason, the brother of Onias, undermined the high priesthood, promising the king through a petition three hundred sixty talents of silver, and eighty talents from some other revenue.

9In addition to these things, he promised to register another fifty talents beyond the one hundred, if he were granted authority to establish for himself a gymnasium and an enrollment of young men, and to enroll those in Jerusalem as Antiochenes.

10And when the king had given his approval, and he had gained control of the office, he immediately shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life.

11And he set aside the royal provisions laid down for the Jews through John, the father of Eupolemus—the one who had carried out the embassy to the Romans concerning friendship and alliance—and, while abolishing the lawful institutions, he introduced unlawful customs.

12For he gladly established a gymnasium under the very citadel, and by bringing the noblest of our young men under the Greek cap, he was leading them on.

13And there was such a height of Hellenism and an increase of foreign ways because of the surpassing shamelessness of Jason, who was ungodly and not the high priest,

14so that the priests were no longer eager for the services of the altar, but, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful exercise in the wrestling school after the summons to the discus throw;

15and placing no value at all on the honors of their fathers, but considering the Greek distinctions the finest.

16For this reason a harsh crisis surrounded them: those whose ways they envied and whom they wanted to imitate became their enemies and punishers.

17For it is not easy to act wickedly against the divine laws; but the time that follows will make these things clear.

18When the quadrennial games were being held in Tyre, and the king was present,

19Jason the vile man sent Antiochians from Jerusalem as envoys, carrying three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Heracles; but those who carried them requested that they not be used for sacrifice,

20but because of the present circumstances for the outfitting of the triremes.

21When Apollonius son of Menestheus had been sent to Egypt for the accession festivities of King Philometor, Antiochus, learning that he had become estranged from his own affairs, took thought for his own security. Therefore, after arriving at Joppa, he went on to Jerusalem.

22And he was received with great splendor by Jason and the city, and was welcomed with a torchlight procession and shouts; then in this way he encamped in Phoenicia.

23But after a period of three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the aforementioned Simon, to carry the money to the king and to deliver memoranda concerning necessary matters.

24But after being presented to the king and magnifying him by the display of his authority, he secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

25But after receiving the royal commands, he arrived, bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the passions of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a barbarous beast.

26And Jason, who had supplanted his own brother, having himself been supplanted by another, fled and went into the land of the Ammonites.

27But Menelaus held on to the office, yet he made no provision at all for the money he had promised to the king.

28But when Sostratus, the commander of the citadel, pressed the claim—for the handling of the revenues belonged to him—for this reason the two men were summoned by the king.

29And Menelaus left Lysimachus, his own brother, as successor to the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, the one over the Cyprians.

30While these things were underway, it happened that the people of Tarsus and Mallus revolted, because they were being given as a gift to Antiochis, the king’s concubine.

31So the king came quickly to settle the affairs, leaving Andronicus, one of those holding high office, as his successor.

32But Menelaus, thinking that he had found a favorable opportunity, embezzled some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them as a gift to Andronicus, and he had managed to sell others in Tyre and the surrounding cities.

33And Onias, when he clearly recognized this, withdrew to a place of asylum at Daphne, which lies near Antioch.

34Therefore Menelaus took Andronicus aside privately and urged him to strike down Onias by treachery. Andronicus went to Onias, and after winning his confidence by deceit and greeting him with oaths, giving him his right hand, though he was under suspicion, he persuaded him to come out from the place of asylum. Then he immediately shut him away, showing no regard for justice.

35For this reason, not only Jews, but also many of the other nations,

36They were indignant and deeply grieved over the man's unjust murder. But when the king returned from the regions of Cilicia, the Jews in the city appealed to him, and the Greeks as well, sharing in their hatred of the wicked deed,

37So Antiochus, deeply grieved in soul and moved to pity, and having wept because of the self-control and great good order of the one who had died,

38And, inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off Andronikos's purple robe and tore off his garments, and after leading him around through the whole city to the very place where he had committed his impiety against Onias, there he dispatched the murderer, the Lord rendering to him the punishment he deserved.

39But when many acts of temple robbery had been committed in the city by Lysimachus, with the consent of Menelaus, and the report had spread outside, the crowd gathered against Lysimachus, since much gold had already been plundered.

40But when the crowds were rising up and being filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men and began unjust violence, with a certain Auranus taking the lead, a man advanced in age and no less in ignorance.

41he began to strike with lawless hands, with a certain Auranus taking the lead, advanced in age but no less in ignorance.

42But when they also became aware of the attack by Lysimachus, some snatched up stones, others thick pieces of wood, and some, grabbing handfuls of the ashes lying nearby, hurled them all together at those around Lysimachus.

43For this reason they wounded many of them, struck down some, and drove them all into flight; and they seized the temple-robber himself beside the treasury.

44Concerning these matters, a judicial hearing was brought against Menelaus.

45And when the king arrived at Tyre, the three men sent by the council presented their case before him.

46But Menelaus, already having been won over, promised Ptolemy son of Dorymenes a considerable amount of money to persuade the king.

47So Ptolemy took him and moved the king into a colonnade, as though to revive him.

48And he released Menelaus, the cause of all the evil, from among the accused; but for those wretched men—who, even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians, would have been acquitted—for them he decreed death.

49Therefore those who had spoken beforehand concerning the city and the people and the sacred vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty.

50But Menelaus, because of the greed of those in power, remained in office, growing in wickedness and having become a great plotter against his fellow citizens.