1. Therefore, when the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and also the laws were still being kept very well because of the piety of Onias, the high priest, and the hatred that his soul held for evil,
2. it happened that even the kings and princes themselves considered the place worthy of the highest honor, and so they glorified the temple with very great gifts,
3. so much so that Seleucus, king of Asia, furnished from his revenues all of the expenses for the ministry pertaining to the sacrifices.
4. But Simon, from the tribe of Benjamin, having been appointed as overseer of the temple, obstructed the chief priest, in order to undertake some kind of iniquity in the city.
5. But when he was not able to overcome Onias, he went to Apollonius, the son of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia,
6. and he announced to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of innumerable sums of money, and that the common storehouse, which did not pertain to the allotment for the sacrifices, was immense, and that it would be possible for all of this to fall under the power of the king.
7. And when he had presented the news that he brought back to king Apollonius about the money, he summoned Heliodorus, who was in charge of this matter, and he sent him with orders, in order to transport the aforesaid money.
8. And immediately Heliodorus set forth on the way, indeed, appearing as if sojourning to the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in truth the reason was to complete the proposition of the king.