3 Maccabees 1

1When Philopator heard from those who returned that the regions he ruled had been captured by Antiochus, he issued orders to all his infantry and cavalry forces, took his sister Arsinoe along with him, and set out toward the area near Raphia, where the forces of Antiochus were positioned.

2Now a certain Theodotus, intending to carry out a plan he had developed, took the finest of the Ptolemaic weapons issued earlier to him and crossed by night to Ptolemy's tent with the intention of killing him by himself, and in that way ending the war.

3But Dositheus, called the son of Drimylos, by birth Jew who afterward changed his religion and apostatized from the traditions of his fathers, removed the king and put in his place a certain unimportant man in the tent. That man suffered the vengeance intended for the king.

4When a fierce battle took place and things were going rather well for Antiochus, Arsinoe went and exhorted the soldiers with her cries and tears. With her hair disheveled, she urged them to be brave and to defend themselves and their children and wives. She promised to give each of them two minas of gold if they were victorious.

5So it happened the enemy was defeated in hand-to-hand combat, and many were taken captive.

6But having prevailed against the plot, Ptolemy decided to visit and encourage the neighboring cities.

7In doing so and by enriching their sacred precincts with gifts, he built up the morale of the conquered people.

8When the Jews sent representatives to him from the senate, they greeted him, brought him gifts, and congratulated him on the way things turned out. He was favorable to them and eager to visit them soon.

9When he came to Jerusalem, he sacrificed to the Almighty God and made thank offerings and did what was appropriate in the place. In coming into the holy place, he was astonished at its excellence and beauty,

10and he admired the good order of the temple and conceived a desire to enter into the inner sanctuary.

11They told him, however, it was inappropriate for him to do this, since even citizens of their own nation were not allowed to enter, nor even all the priests. Only the high priest who was first over all of them could enter, but only once a year. Ptolemy, though, was not at all persuaded.

12Even when the law was read to him, still he would not stop insisting that he should enter, saying, 'Even if others are deprived of this honor, I must not be deprived.'

13Then he asked why nobody ever prevented him from going into all the other shrines.

14Someone said without thinking that it was improper to take that as a portent.

15When that happened, he said that he would enter anyway, whether they liked it or not.

16Then the priests, fully vested, prostrated themselves and supplicated God Most High to help them in the present circumstances, to turn away the impulse of the man of evil design. The temple was filled with their cries and tears.

17Those who remained in the city rushed out, supposing that something mysterious was happening.

18Even the virgins who had remained in their chambers rushed out with their mothers and sprinkled dust on their hair, filling the streets with wailing and groaning.

19Those, too, who were recently brought to their bridal chambers abandoned the modesty that was appropriate for them and raced through the city in a disorderly manner.

20At that point, mothers and nurses even abandoned their newborns here and there, some at home and others in the streets, and without looking back crowded into the most high temple.

21The prayers of those gathered were of varied forms because of what the king was plotting in such an unholy way.

22Besides, more aggressive citizens would in no way tolerate the carrying out of his plan or the fulfillment of his intention.

23They shouted to their neighbors to make a run on the weapons and to die courageously for the law of their fathers. They created a great disturbance in the place and were barely restrained by the aged and the elders. They took up the same posture of prayer as the others.

24In the meantime, the multitude returned to prayer as before.

25The elders close by the king made many attempts to divert his haughty mind from the plan he had concocted.

26But in his arrogance he dismissed everything they said and began to approach the place, determined to complete his plan.

27When those around the king observed this, they turned to one another and called upon Him who is all-powerful to come to their aid in this current struggle and not to ignore this lawless and arrogant act.

28But because of the continual impassioned shouting of the crowds, it seemed that not only those present but also the very walls and the earth itself were echoing the cry, for they all preferred death to the profaning of the temple.