2 Maccabees 9:12–18

Right is it that mortal man should be subject to God, and not deem himself God’s equal. The vile wretch also made a vow to the Lord ⁽who would not now have pity on him⁽, promising that he would proclaim the holy city free—the city which he was hurrying to lay level with the ground and to make a common sepulchre—that he would make all the Jews equal to citizens of Athens—the Jews whom he had determined to throw out with their children to the beasts, for the birds to devour, as unworthy even to be buried—that he would adorn with magnificent offerings the holy sanctuary which he had formerly rifled, restoring all the sacred vessels many times over, and defraying from his own revenue the expense of the sacrifices; furthermore, that he would even become a Jew and travel over the inhabited world to publish abroad the might of God. But when his sufferings did not cease by any means ⁽for God’s judgement had justly come upon him⁽, he gave up all hope of himself and wrote the following letter, with its humble supplication, to the Jews: