53 But it was the year when they had let the fields rest, and they ran out of supplies, because they had given what little food they had stored in the temple to those who had run away from the Gentiles and had come to Judea.
54 Most of the people went home, because they were starving. Only a small group was left in the temple.
55-56 Before Antiochus the Fourth died, he had made his friend Philip promise that the younger Antiochus would take his place as king. Philip wanted control of the kingdom, and so he brought back the part of the army that had been in Persia and Media.When Lysias found out what Philip was doing,
57 he said to the young Antiochus the Fifth and to the officers and the soldiers:You must leave Jerusalem at once!Things are getting worse every day. We're short of food, and the enemy fortress is powerful. Besides, we have other problems to solve.
58 Let's sign a treaty with these Jews and the rest of their nation
59 to let them follow their own customs again. After all, they got angry and did all these things, because we ordered them to give up the traditions of their ancestors.
60-61 Antiochus and his officers liked what Lysias had suggested. So he promised to let the Jews live in peace, and then they left the fortress.