1 Maccabees 1:41–50

Installation of Gentile Cults

⁴¹Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people ⁴²and that all should give up their particular customs. All the nations accepted the command of the king.^{* 43}Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath. ⁴⁴And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, ⁴⁵to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane Sabbaths and festivals,^{* 46}to defile the sanctuary and the holy ones, ⁴⁷to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals,^{* 48}and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane ⁴⁹so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances. ⁵⁰He added,^c “And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.”^*