1 When Onias was high priest of the nation, the holy city of Jerusalem always had peace. Onias hated evil and loved God, which made everyone careful to obey the Law.
2 Many kings showed great respect for the temple in those days and even brought it expensive gifts.
3 For example, King Seleucus of Asia used to pay for the daily sacrifices with money from the taxes he collected.
4 While Onias was still high priest, a man named Simon from the Benjamin tribe was a high official in the temple. And one day he started arguing with Onias about how to run the Jerusalem marketplace.
5 Simon lost the argument and went to Apollonius, the governor of Southwest Syria Province,