40. Her dishonor became as greatas her glory had been.Her joy turned into sadness.
41. Then King Antiochus sent word throughout his entire kingdom that everyone should act like one people,
42. giving up their local customs. The Gentile nations all readily accepted the king’s command.
43. Many Jews also willingly adopted the king’s religion. They sacrificed to idols and violated the Sabbath.
44. The king sent messengers carrying letters to Jerusalem and the surrounding towns of Judah. He directed Jews to follow customs that had been unknown in the land.
45. He banned the regular practices of entirely burned offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings in the sanctuary. He banned the observance of sabbaths and feast days.
46. The sanctuary and its priests were to be defiled.
47. They should build new altars, together with sacred precincts and shrines for idols. They should sacrifice pigs and other ritually impure animals.
48. Jews were no longer to circumcise their sons. They were supposed to make themselves repulsive to God by doing unclean and improper acts.
49. All of this was intended to make them forget the Law and change its regulations.
50. Whoever didn’t obey the king would die.
51. In this way, Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and commanded the Jewish communities to offer pagan sacrifices, town by town.
52. Many Jewish people, those who abandoned the Law, followed suit and did evil in the land.
53. The king’s inspectors drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had available.
54. Now on the fifteenth day of Kislev, in the year 145, they set up a disgusting and destructive thing on the altar for entirely burned offerings in the sanctuary. The inspectors built other altars in the surrounding Judean towns.
55. They burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.