¶In the one hundred fifty first year,^* Demetrius the son of Seleucus came out of Rome, and went up with a few men to a city by the sea, and reigned there.

It came to pass, when he would go into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, that the army laid hands on Antiochus and Lysias, to bring them to him.

The thing became known to him, and he said, “Don’t show me their faces!”

So the army killed them. Then Demetrius sat upon the throne of his kingdom.

¶All the lawless and ungodly men of Israel came to him. Alcimus was their leader, desiring to be high priest.

They accused the people to the king, saying, “Judas and his kindred have destroyed all your friends, and have scattered us from our own land.

Now therefore send a man whom you trust, and let him go and see all the destruction which he has brought on us and the king’s country, and how he has punished them and all who helped them.”

So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king’s^* friends, who was ruler in the country beyond the river, and was a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king.

He sent him and that ungodly Alcimus, whom he made the high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance upon the children of Israel.

¶They marched away and came with a great army into the land of Judah. He sent messengers to Judas and his kindred with words of peace deceitfully.

They paid no attention to their words; for they saw that they had come with a great army.

A group of scribes gathered together to Alcimus and Bacchides to seek just terms.

The^* Hasidaeans were the first among the children of Israel who sought peace from them,

for they said, “One who is a priest of the seed of Aaron has come with the army, and he will do us no wrong.”

He spoke with them words of peace, and swore to them, saying, “We won’t seek to harm you or your friends.”

They trusted him. Then he seized sixty men of them, and killed them in one day, according to the word which was written,

^* The flesh of your saints and their blood was shed all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

¶The fear and the dread of them fell upon all the people, for they said, “There is neither truth nor justice in them; for they have broken the covenant and the oath which they swore.”

Bacchides withdrew from Jerusalem, and encamped in Bezeth. He sent and seized many of the deserters who were with him, and some of the people, and he killed them, throwing them into a large pit.

He placed Alcimus in charge of the country and left with him a force to aid him. Then Bacchides went away to the king.

¶Alcimus struggled to maintain his high priesthood.

All those who troubled their people joined him, and they took control of the land of Judah, and did great damage in Israel.

Judas saw all the wrongs that Alcimus and his company had done among the children of Israel, even more than the Gentiles.

He went out into all the borders of Judea and took vengeance on the men who had deserted from him, and they were restrained from going out into the country.