Loading…

1 Maccabees 11:1–17

Ptolemy Invades Syria

11 Then the king of Egypt gathered great forces, like the sand by the seashore, and many ships; and he tried to get possession of Alexander’s kingdom by trickery and add it to his own kingdom. He set out for Syria with peaceable words, and the people of the towns opened their gates to him and went to meet him, for King Alexander had commanded them to meet him, since he was Alexander’sa father-in-law. But when Ptolemy entered the towns he stationed forces as a garrison in each town.

When heb approached Azotus, they showed him the burnt-out temple of Dagon, and Azotus and its suburbs destroyed, and the corpses lying about, and the charred bodies of those whom Jonathanc had burned in the war, for they had piled them in heaps along his route. They also told the king what Jonathan had done, to throw blame on him; but the king kept silent. Jonathan met the king at Joppa with pomp, and they greeted one another and spent the night there. And Jonathan went with the king as far as the river called Eleutherus; then he returned to Jerusalem.

So King Ptolemy gained control of the coastal cities as far as Seleucia by the sea, and he kept devising wicked designs against Alexander. He sent envoys to King Demetrius, saying, “Come, let us make a covenant with each other, and I will give you in marriage my daughter who was Alexander’s wife, and you shall reign over your father’s kingdom. 10 I now regret that I gave him my daughter, for he has tried to kill me.” 11 He threw blame on Alexanderd because he coveted his kingdom. 12 So he took his daughter away from him and gave her to Demetrius. He was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity became manifest.

13 Then Ptolemy entered Antioch and put on the crown of Asia. Thus he put two crowns on his head, the crown of Egypt and that of Asia. 14 Now King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region were in revolt. 15 When Alexander heard of it, he came against him in battle. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force, and put him to flight. 16 So Alexander fled into Arabia to find protection there, and King Ptolemy was triumphant. 17 Zabdiel the Arab cut off the head of Alexander and sent it to Ptolemy.

Read more Explain verse



A service of Logos Bible Software