The chat will start when you send the first message.
1Then King Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt gathered together an army as innumerable as the sands of the seashore, along with many ships. He planned to seize Alexander’s kingdom by treachery and add it to his own kingdom.
2He marched into Syria with peaceful words, and the people opened the gates of their cities and greeted him. They did this because King Alexander had ordered them to welcome him, since Ptolemy was his father-in-law.
3As Ptolemy entered each town, he stationed a garrison of soldiers there.
4When he approached Azotus, the people showed him the ruins of the temple of Dagon, which Jonathan had destroyed by fire. They also showed him the town and its surroundings, which had been leveled, and the corpses lying about. Lining the road were the charred bodies of those whom Jonathan had burned in the battle, for the people had piled them along Ptolemy’s route in heaps.
5They told King Ptolemy that Jonathan had done these things, for they wanted the king to dislike him. But the king said nothing.
6Jonathan met Ptolemy at Joppa with great ceremony, and they greeted one another and spent the night there.
7Jonathan accompanied the king as far as the Eleutherus River; then he returned to Jerusalem.
8Continuing in his plot against Alexander, King Ptolemy gained control of the coastal cities, as far as Seleucia on the coast.
9He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius to say, “Come, let us make a pact with each other. I will give you my daughter, who is now married to Alexander, and you will reign over your father’s kingdom.
10For I regret that I gave Alexander my daughter, since he has tried to kill me.”
11He accused Alexander because he coveted his kingdom.
12So he took his daughter from Alexander and gave her to Demetrius, and it was now obvious that Ptolemy and Alexander were enemies.
13Then Ptolemy Philometor entered Antioch and crowned himself king of Asia; so now he wore two crowns, that of Egypt and that of Asia.
14At this time King Alexander was in Cilicia because there was a rebellion there.
15But when Alexander heard what had happened, he marched out to fight against Ptolemy, who met him with a strong force and routed Alexander’s armies.
16Alexander fled to Arabia to seek protection. King Ptolemy’s triumph was complete
17when Zabdiel the Arab cut off Alexander’s head and sent it back to Ptolemy.
18However, King Ptolemy died three days later, and his troops in each of the strongholds were killed by the local residents.
19As a result, Demetrius Nicator became king in the one hundred sixty-seventh year of Greek rule.[#11:19 The 167th year of Greek rule was 145 b.c.]
20In those days Jonathan gathered forces from Judea to seize the citadel in Jerusalem. They built many war machines to besiege it.
21But some renegades who hated their own nation went to King Demetrius Nicator and told him that Jonathan was attacking the citadel.
22When Demetrius heard this, he was angry and set out at once for Ptolemais. He wrote to Jonathan, demanding that he end the siege and meet him for a conference in Ptolemais as soon as possible.
23When Jonathan heard this, he ordered the siege to continue. Then, despite the danger, he set out with some of the priests and elders of Israel.
24He took gold, silver, rich garments, and many other presents and went to meet the king at Ptolemais, and there he won the king’s favor.
25Even though certain renegades of his nation made complaints against Jonathan,
26the king treated him as his predecessors had done, and he exalted Jonathan in the sight of all his favored leaders.
27The king confirmed Jonathan’s position as high priest and all his previous distinctions, and he declared him to be one of his most favored leaders.
28Jonathan requested that the king exempt Judea and the three districts of Samaria from taxes, and he promised the king eleven tons of silver in return.[#11:28 Or 11 tons of gold; Greek reads 300 talents [10.2 metric tons].]
29The king consented and wrote this letter to Jonathan about all these things:
38King Demetrius Nicator saw that peace reigned throughout the land and that no one resisted him, so he dismissed all his troops, sending each to his own home. He retained the foreign soldiers, however, whom he had recruited from Gentile islands. As a result, he was hated by all the dismissed troops, who had served under his predecessors.
39There was a man named Trypho, who had been one of Alexander’s supporters. When he saw that all the dismissed troops were grumbling against Demetrius, he went to Imalkue the Arab, who was raising Antiochus, Alexander’s young son.
40Trypho urged the Arab to let him take Antiochus and make him king in his father’s place. Trypho related to him all that Demetrius had done and how his soldiers hated him. Trypho remained there for many days.
41Meanwhile, Jonathan sent word to King Demetrius, asking him to remove the soldiers from the citadel at Jerusalem and from the strongholds, because they were constantly fighting against the Israelites.
42Demetrius sent this message back to Jonathan: “I will gladly do this for you and your people, and I will also greatly honor you and your nation when the opportunity arises.
43Therefore, please help yourself and me by sending some of your men to support me, because my troops have revolted.”
44So Jonathan sent 3,000 seasoned troops to him at Antioch, and the king was glad at their arrival.
45Then 120,000 people of the city gathered together to kill the king,
46but he fled into his palace. The people seized control of the streets and began to fight,
47so the king called the Jewish troops to his aid. They rallied to assist him and spread out through the city. They killed about 100,000 people that day
48and set fire to the city. They also seized a large amount of plunder and saved the king’s life.
49When the citizens saw that the Jews controlled the city and could do as they pleased, their courage failed, and they cried to the king. They begged him,
50“Grant us peace, and make the Jews stop attacking us and our city.”
51Then the citizens threw down their arms and made peace. So the Jews were honored by the king and all the people of his kingdom, and they returned to Jerusalem with a large amount of plunder.
52But when King Demetrius’s rule was secure and the land was peaceful under his government,
53he broke his promises and alienated himself to Jonathan. Instead of repaying Jonathan for the favors he had been given, the king caused him much trouble.
54After this, Trypho returned with Antiochus, Alexander’s young son, who was then crowned as king.
55All the troops that Demetrius had dismissed joined Antiochus’s forces and fought against Demetrius, who was routed.
56Trypho captured the elephants and gained control of Antioch.
57Then young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm your position as high priest. I appoint you as ruler over the four districts and confirm you as one of the king’s favored leaders.”
58He sent him a gold plate from his table service and gave him permission to drink from a gold cup and to be clothed in purple and wear a gold buckle.
59Antiochus appointed Jonathan’s brother Simon to be governor from the borders of Tyre to the borders of Egypt.[#11:59 Greek the Ladder of Tyre.]
60Jonathan left and visited cities west of the Euphrates River, and all the armies of Syria joined forces with him. When he came to Ashkelon, the people came out to honor him.
61He went from there to Gaza, where he was denied admission, so he attacked it and burned its surrounding towns and carried away their possessions.
62The people of Gaza pleaded with Jonathan, and he made peace with them. But he took the sons of their rulers as hostages and sent them to Jerusalem. Then he continued northward as far as Damascus.
63Jonathan heard that the officers of Demetrius had come to Kadesh in Galilee with a large army, intending to remove him from power.
64Jonathan went to fight them, leaving his brother Simon in Judea.
65Simon set up camp outside Beth-zur, surrounded it, and besieged it for many days.
66The people asked for terms of peace, and he granted them. But he removed the people from the town, took control of it, and placed a garrison in it.
67Jonathan and his army set up camp by the Sea of Galilee. Early in the morning they marched on to the plain of Hazor.
68The army of foreigners hid a contingent of soldiers in the mountains. Then they met Jonathan’s army face to face on the plain.
69When the soldiers in the mountains came out of hiding and joined the battle,
70everyone on Jonathan’s side fled. The only ones who remained were Mattathias son of Absalom and Judas son of Chalphi, commanders of the army.
71Jonathan tore his clothes in grief and put dust upon his head and prayed.
72Then he returned to the battle and sent the enemy running.
73When Jonathan’s soldiers who were fleeing saw this, they returned to the battle to help him, and together they chased the enemy all the way to the enemy camp at Kadesh. There Jonathan and his men set up their camp as well.
74That day about three thousand enemy soldiers were killed. Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.