1 Maccabees 1:41–60

And the king wrote unto his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and that every one should give up his ^[religious^[ usages. And all the nations acquiesced in accordance with the command of the king. And many in Israel took delight in his ⁽form of⁽ worship, and they began sacrificing to idols, and profaned the sabbath. Furthermore, the king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah ⁽to the effect that⁽ they should practise customs foreign to ⁽the traditions of⁽ the land, and that they should cease the ⁽sacrificing of⁽ whole burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and drink offerings in the sanctuary, and that they should profane the sabbaths and feasts, and pollute the sanctuary and those who had been sanctified; that they should ⁽moreover⁽ build high places, and sacred groves, and shrines for idols, and that they should sacrifice swine and ⁽other⁽ unclean animals; and that they should leave their sons uncircumcized, and make themselves abominable by means of ⁽practising⁽ everything that was unclean and profane, so that they might forget the Law, and change all the ⁽traditional⁽ ordinances. And whosoever should not act according to the word of the king, should die. In this manner did he write unto the whole of his kingdom; and he appointed overseers over all the people; and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, every one of them. And many of the people joined themselves unto them, all those ^[namely^[ who had forsaken the Law; these did evil in the land, and caused Israel to hide in all manner of hiding-places.

And on the fifteenth day of Chislev in the one hundred and forty-fifth year they set up upon the altar an ‘abomination of desolation’, and in the cities of Judah on every side they established high-places; and they offered sacrifice at the doors of the houses and in the streets. And the books of the Law which they found they rent in pieces, and burned them in the fire. And with whomsoever was found a book of the covenant, and if he was ⁽found⁽ consenting unto the Law, such an one was, according to the king’s sentence, condemned to death. Thus did they in their might to the Israelites who were found month by month in their cities. And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they sacrificed upon the altar which was upon the altar of burnt-offering. And, according to the decree,