9 This godless Antiochus was still alive, but his body was tormented by throbbing pain. His skin began rotting, and worms started crawling out of his eyes. He was stinking so badly that his entire army felt like vomiting,
10 and so no one was willing to carry this man who once thought he could reach up and touch the stars.
11 God punished King Antiochus with unending pain and depression, until the king began to lose his pride and started thinking clearly.
12 And when he could no longer stand his own smell, he said, “We humans are nothing compared to the Lord God, and we should obey him.”
13 The Lord refused to be merciful to Antiochus any longer, even though this disgusting man made the following promises to the Lord:
14 Recently, I planned to trample down the holy city of Jerusalem and to turn it into a pile of Jewish bones. But now I give you my word that Jerusalem will be a free city.
15 I also intended to let the birds and the wild animals eat the bodies of the Jews and their children that I had thrown outside. After all, I did not consider them worth burying. But instead I'll give them the same legal rights as the people of Athens.