3 Maccabees 1:1–5

AOT

NRSVue

RSV

Apocrypha of the Old Testament

1 Now when Philopator had learned from those who had returned of the capture by Antiochus of the places which had been held by him, he issued orders to all his forces, foot and horse, and taking with him his sister Arsinoe, marched to the district over against Raphia, where the army of Antiochus was encamped. 2 But a certain Theodotus, determining to carry out his plot, took with him the bravest of the soldiers of Ptolemy who had been previously assigned to him, and went by night to the tent of Ptolemy, intending to kill him single-handed, and thereby put an end to the war. 3 But Dositheus, called the son of Drimylus, who was by birth a Jew, but had subsequently abandoned the observance of the law, and renounced his ancestral faith, had conveyed Ptolemy away, and put some obscure person to sleep in the tent; and so it happened that on this man fell the vengeance intended for the other. 4 And when a fierce battle had begun, and things were favouring Antiochus, Arsinoe went frequently up and down the ranks, and her hair dishevelled, exhorted them with lamentation and tears to fight manfully for themselves, their children, and their wives, promising to give them if they conquered two minae of gold each. 5 And thus it came about that their adversaries were destroyed in the encounter, and that many were also taken captive.