He was greatly perplexed in mind means that he found himself in an uncertain situation or predicament. An alternative model for this whole clause is “Antiochus realized that he was in a desperate situation.”

And determined to go to Persia may be rendered “and decided to go east to Persia” or “and thought, ‘I will go east to Persia.’”

And collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund may be expressed as “and raise a lot of money by collecting taxes from the provinces there [or, from that region].”

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Antiochus realized that he was in a desperate situation and thought, “I will go east to Persia and raise a lot of money by collecting taxes from the provinces there [or, from that region].”

• Finding himself in this difficult situation, he decided to go [east] to Persia and raise a lot of money by collecting taxes from the provinces out there [or, from that region].

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.