8 So Heliodorus left at once for Jerusalem. But he told everyone that he was on his way to inspect the towns of Southwest Syria Province.
9 Onias the high priest warmly welcomed Heliodorus to Jerusalem. Then Heliodorus explained, “I came to the city because someone told me there is a lot of money in your temple treasury. Is this true?”
10 Onias answered:There is money in the treasury, but some of it is for widows and orphans,
11 and some of it belongs to Hyrcanus, a very important man. At the most, you will find only 400,000 silver coins and 200,000 pieces of gold. That devil Simon lied to you.
12 Anyway, I can't possibly let you rob our people of their silver and gold. They trust this sacred temple and think their money is safe. After all, everyone in the world respects this holy place.
13 Heliodorus answered, “King Seleucus has ordered me to collect the money for the royal treasury, and I'm going to do just that.”
14 After Heliodorus had set a day to collect the money, he went into the temple to take charge of the workers who were counting the silver and gold.Meanwhile, everyone in Jerusalem was in terrible agony.