2 Ptolemy led his forces toward Syria and told each town he came to that he was on a friendly visit. Everyone believed Ptolemy and welcomed him, just as his son-in-law Alexander had ordered them to do.
3 But he stationed soldiers in their towns.
4 The people of Azotus met Ptolemy and showed him all that was left of their town, of the nearby villages, and of the temple of Dagon that had been destroyed by fire. They also showed him the piles of dead and burned bodies they had heaped up beside the road after the battle with Jonathan.
5 Everyone blamed Jonathan for all the damage, but Ptolemy said nothing.
6 Jonathan met Ptolemy at the town of Joppa, and Jonathan honored him. The two men spent the night there,
7 then the next day Jonathan rode with him to the Eleutherus River before heading back for Jerusalem.
8 Soon Ptolemy had command of the towns on the coast as far as Seleucia. He kept plotting against Alexander,