Antiochus' Final Campaign and Death

In 1 Maccabees, King Antiochus was travelling through the upper regions when he heard of a famous city in Persia with great riches and a very wealthy temple. He went to seize the city and plunder it, but the people learned his plan, fought against him, and drove him away. He returned to Babylon deeply disappointed.

Then news came that the armies sent against Judah had been beaten back. He heard that Lysias had been shamed, that the Jews had gained strength from captured weapons and supplies, that they had torn down the abomination in Jerusalem, and that they had enclosed the sanctuary and Bethsura with high walls again. The king was shaken, took to his bed, and became sick with grief.

He called his friends and said that he now remembered the wrongs he had done at Jerusalem: taking silver and gold vessels and sending orders to destroy the people of Judah without cause. He believed these troubles had come upon him for that reason, and that he was dying in a strange land. Then he gave Philip his crown, robe, and signet ring, so Philip could guide Antiochus his son until he might reign.

1 Maccabees says Antiochus died there in the one hundred forty-ninth year. Afterward, when Lysias learned of the king's death, he set up Antiochus's young son as king and called him Eupator. 2 Maccabees presents this final period differently. In that report, Antiochus tried to rob a temple in Persepolis, was put to flight in disgrace, and later received news at Ecbatana about Nicanor and the forces of Timotheus.

In 2 Maccabees, the king reacted with furious pride and threatened Jerusalem, but God struck him with a fatal illness. Even after that he kept raging, and he also suffered a fall from his chariot. At last he began to admit that a mortal should submit to God, and he made great promises concerning Jerusalem, the Jews, and the sanctuary. Even so, he died among the mountains in a strange land. That account ends by saying Philip took the body home and later withdrew to Egypt, fearing Antiochus's son.