23 Judas and his soldiers struck quickly. They defeated Seron and his army
24 and chased them to the valley below the hills of Beth-Horon. Eight hundred enemy soldiers were killed, and the rest ran away to the country of the Philistines.
25 The Gentiles in this whole region were now terrified of Judas and his brothers.
26 In fact, everyone talked about his victories so much that even King Antiochus finally heard about Judas.
27 Antiochus was furious and brought his troops together from everywhere in his kingdom to build up a powerful army.
28 He took money from his treasury and gave each soldier a year's pay. Then he told them, “Be ready to fight at a moment's notice!”
29 Soon Antiochus ran out of money, and it became difficult to collect taxes, because of the hard feelings and trouble he had caused by doing away with the ancient customs of the land.