8 Heliodorus set out at once on his mission, but he claimed that he was only making a tour of inspection of the cities of Greater Syria.
9 After he had arrived in Jerusalem and had been warmly received by the High Priest, he explained the real reason for his visit and asked if what he had been told was true.
10-11 The High Priest then stated that Simon, that devil of a man, had not been telling the truth. There was indeed some money in the Temple treasury, but part of it was set aside for widows and orphans and part of it belonged to Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a very important man. He also pointed out that the total amount was only thirteen tonnes of silver and 6.5 tonnes of gold.
12 He added that it was absolutely impossible that anyone should be permitted to take the money of those people who had put their trust in the sanctity and safety of this world-famous Temple.
13 But Heliodorus insisted that the money should be taken for the royal treasury, as the king had ordered.
14 So he fixed a day and went into the Temple to supervise the counting of the money. This caused an uproar throughout the entire city.
15 Priests, wearing the priestly robes, threw themselves face downwards before the altar and begged God to keep the money safe, since he had given the laws designed to protect the money that people deposited in the Temple.