16:18. And Ptolemee wrote these things, and sent to the king that he should send him an army to aid him, and he would deliver him the country, and their cities, and tributes.
16:19. And he sent others to Gazara to kill John: and to the tribunes he sent letters to come to him, and that he would give them silver, and gold, and gifts.
16:20. And he sent others to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple.
16:21. Now one running before, told John in Gazara, that his father and his brethren were slain, and that he hath sent men to kill thee also.
16:22. But when he heard it, he was exceedingly afraid: and he apprehended the men that came to kill him, and he put them to death: for he knew that they sought to make him away.
16:23. And as concerning the rest of the acts of John, and his wars, and the worthy deeds, which he bravely achieved, and the building of the walls, which he made, and the things that he did:
16:24. Behold, these are written in the book of the days of his priesthood, from the time that he was made high priest after his father.
THE SECOND BOOK OF MACHABEES
This second book of MACHABEES is not a continuation of the history contained in the first: nor does is come down so low as the first does: but relates many of the same facts more at large, and adds other remarkable particulars, omitted in the first book, relating to the state of the Jews, as well before as under the persecution of ANTIOCHUS. The author, who is not the same with that of the first book, has given (as we learn from chap. 2.20, etc.) a short abstract of what JASON of Cyrene had written in the five volumes, concerning JUDAS and his brethren. He wrote in Greek, and begins with two letters, sent by the Jews of Jerusalem to their brethren in Egypt.
2 Machabees Chapter 1