42. Her shame was multiplied according to her glory, and her loftiness was turned into lamentation.
43. And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people must be one, and that each one should relinquish his own law.
44. And all Gentiles consented, according to the word of king Antiochus.
45. And many out of Israel consented to his servitude, and they sacrificed to idols, and they polluted the Sabbath.
46. And the king sent letters, by the hand of messengers, to Jerusalem and to all the cities of Judah: that they should follow the law of the Nations of the earth,
47. and that they should prohibit holocausts and sacrifices and atonements to be made in the temple of God,
48. and that they should prohibit the celebration of the Sabbath and the solemn days.
49. And he ordered the holy places to be defiled, along with the holy people of Israel.
50. And he ordered altars to be built, and temples, and idols, and he ordered the immolation of the flesh of swine and of unclean cattle,
51. and that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, and defile their souls with all that is unclean, and with abominations, so that they would forget the law and would alter all the justifications of God,
52. and that whoever would not act according to the word of king Antiochus should be put to death.
53. According to all these words, he wrote to all his kingdom. And he appointed leaders over the people, who would compel them to do these things.
54. And these ordered the cities of Judah to sacrifice.
55. And many from the people, who had abandoned the law of the Lord, were gathered together by them. And they committed evils upon the land.
56. And they drove the people of Israel into hiding and into the secret places of fugitives.