13. Because of the unrivalled wickedness of Jason, that ungodly and illegitimate High Priest, the craze for the Greek way of life and for foreign customs reached such a point
14. that even the priests lost all interest in their sacred duties. They lost interest in the Temple services and neglected the sacrifices. Just as soon as the signal was given, they would rush off to take part in the games that were forbidden by our Law.
15. They did not care about anything their ancestors had valued; they prized only Greek honours.
16. And this turned out to be the source of all their troubles, for the very people whose ways they admired and whose customs they tried to imitate became their enemies and oppressed them.
17. It is a serious thing to disregard God's law, as you will see from the following events.
18. Once when the king was present for the athletic games that were held every five years in the city of Tyre,
19. that worthless Jason sent some men there from Jerusalem, who were also enrolled as citizens of Antioch, to take ten tonnes of silver to pay for a sacrifice to the god Hercules. But even these men did not think it was fitting to use such a large sum of money for a sacrifice, and