First Reading1 Maccabees 6:1-13
From the First Book of Maccabees
1King Antiochus was traveling through the upper countries;and he heardthat in Elymais in Persia there was a city renowned for riches,for silver and gold,2and that the temple which was in it was exceedingly rich,and that in it were golden shields,breastplates, and weapons which Alexander,son of Philip, the Macedonian king,who reigned first among the Greeks,left behind there.3So he came and tried to take the city and to pillage it;and he was not able,because his plan was known to them of the city,4and they rose up against him in battle.He fled and returned to Babylon with great disappointment.
5Then someone came into Persia bringing him news that the armieswhich went against the land of Judah had been put to flight,6and that Lysias went first with a strong armyand was put to shame before them,and that they had grown strong because of weapons,power, and a supply of plunderwhich they took from the armies that they had cut off,7and that they had pulled down the abominationwhich he had built upon the altar that was in Jerusalem,and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls,as before, and also Bethsura, his city.
8It came to pass, when the king heard these words,he was astonished and moved exceedingly.He laid himself down on his bed,and fell sick for grief,because it had not turned out for him as he had planned.9He was there many days,because great grief continually gripped him,and he realized that he would die.10He called for all his friends,and said to them, “Sleep departs from my eyes,and my heart fails because of worry.11I said in my heart, ‘To what suffering I have come!How great a flood it is that I’m in, now!For I was gracious and loved in my power.’12But now I remember the evils which I did at Jerusalem,and that I took all the vessels of silverand gold that were in it,and sent out to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without a cause.13I perceive that it is because of thisthat these evils have come upon me.Behold, I am perishing through great grief in a strange land.”