2 Maccabees 9 — Greek text and reception

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About that time Antiochus happened to have retreated in disorder from the regions of Persia.

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For he had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to rob its temple and oppress the city. The multitudes therefore rushed to defend themselves with weapons, and his men were routed. Antiochus, put to flight by the inhabitants, had to make a disgraceful retreat.

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While he was at Ecbatana, news reached him of what had happened to Nicanor and Timothy's forces.

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Exalted in anger, he thought he would make the Jews bear even the harm inflicted by those who had driven him away. He therefore ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping and finish the journey, though judgment from heaven was already accompanying him. For he arrogantly said, “When I arrive there, I will make Jerusalem a mass grave for Jews.”

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But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an incurable and unseen plague. He had only just finished speaking when an unrelenting pain in his bowels and bitter internal torments seized him—

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most justly, since he had tormented the bowels of others with many strange afflictions.

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Yet he did not cease his haughtiness at all, but was still filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his anger against the Jews and ordering the journey hastened. He happened to fall from the chariot as it rushed along, and in the severe fall all the members of his body were wrenched.

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He who just now, in arrogance beyond human measure, thought he could command the waves of the sea and imagined he could weigh the mountain heights in a balance, was brought down to the ground and carried on a litter, plainly showing God's power to everyone.

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Worms swarmed up from the impious man's body, and while he was still alive in pain and anguish, his flesh fell away. The whole army was burdened by the stench of his decay.

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No one could carry the man who a little earlier thought he could touch the stars of heaven, because of the unbearable weight of his smell.

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Then, broken, he began to cease much of his arrogance and come to understanding, his pains increasing every moment under the divine scourge.

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Unable even to endure his own smell, he said, “It is right to submit to God and, being mortal, not to think oneself equal to God.”

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The defiled man made vows to the Master who would no longer have mercy on him, speaking in this way:

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he would declare free the holy city which he was hurrying to level and build into a mass grave;

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and the Jews, whom he had decided were unworthy even of burial, but whom he would cast out with their infants to be eaten by birds and wild animals, he would make all equal to Athenians;

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he would adorn the holy temple he had previously plundered with the finest dedicated gifts, restore all the sacred vessels many times over, and supply from his own revenues the necessary contributions for the sacrifices.

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Besides these things, he would become a Jew and go through every inhabited place, proclaiming God's might.

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But his pains did not cease at all, for God's just judgment had come upon him. Despairing of his own situation, he wrote the following letter to the Jews, having the form of a supplication and containing these words:

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“King and general Antiochus to the good Jewish citizens: many greetings, good health and prosperity.

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If you and your children are well and your affairs are as you wish, placing my hope in heaven,

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I remembered your honor and goodwill affectionately. As I return from the regions of Persia, having fallen into a troublesome illness, I have considered it necessary to take thought for the common security of all.

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I am not despairing of my condition, but have great hope of escaping the illness.

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Yet I observe that my father also, on the occasions when he campaigned in the upper regions, designated his successor,

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so that if something unexpected occurred or some troubling news was reported, those in the country might know to whom the government had been left and not be disturbed.

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Moreover, observing that the nearby rulers who border the kingdom watch for opportunities and await what will happen, I have appointed my son Antiochus as king. I often entrusted and commended him to most of you when traveling to the upper satrapies; I have also written to him what is set down here.

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I therefore urge and ask you, remembering the benefits shown to all and to each individually, to maintain your existing goodwill toward me and my son.

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For I am persuaded that he, following my policy with fairness and humanity, will accommodate himself to you.”

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Thus the murderer and blasphemer, suffering the worst as he had treated others, ended his life by a most pitiful death in the mountains of a foreign land.

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Philip, who had been brought up with him, conveyed his body. Fearing Antiochus's son, he went to Ptolemy Philometor in Egypt.