1 In the one hundred and fifty-first year, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, set out from Rome, arrived with a few men at a coastal city, and began to rule there.
2 As he was entering the royal palace of his ancestors, the soldiers seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him.
3 When he was informed of this, he said, “Do not show me their faces.”
4 So the soldiers killed them, and Demetrius assumed the royal throne.
5 Then all the lawless men and renegades of Israel came to him. They were led by Alcimus, who desired to be high priest.
6 They made this accusation to the king against the people: “Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends and have driven us out of our land.
7 So now, send a man whom you trust to go and see all the destruction Judas has wrought on us and on the king’s territory, and let him punish them and all their supporters.”