35. Lysias was ordered to send an army against the Jews, especially the Jews in Jerusalem, to break their power and destroy them, so that no trace of them would remain.
36. He was ordered to take their land and give it to foreigners, who would settle the whole area.
37. Taking the other half of his army, the king set out from Antioch, his capital city, in the year 147. He crossed the Euphrates and marched through Mesopotamia.