25. And there came great mourning upon Israel, in every place where they were;
26. and the rulers and elders groaned, the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of the women was changed.
27. Every bridegroom took up lamentation, she that sat in the marriage chamber was in heaviness.
28. And the land was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame.
29. And after two full years the king sent a chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude.
30. And he spoke words of peace to them in subtilty, and they gave him credence: and he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it very sore, and destroyed much people out of Israel.
31. And he took the spoils of the city, and set it on fire, and pulled down the houses thereof and the walls thereof on every side.
32. And they led captive the women and the children, and the cattle they took in possession.
33. And they builded the city of David with a great and strong wall, with strong towers, and it became to them a citadel.
34. And they put there a sinful nation, transgressors of the law, and they strengthened themselves therein.
35. And they stored up arms and food, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and they became a sore snare:
36. and it became a place to lie in wait in against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel continually.
37. And they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary.
38. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them; and she became a habitation of strangers, and she became strange to them that were born in her, and her children forsook her.
39. Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt.
40. According to her glory, so was her dishonor multiplied, and her high estate was turned into mourning.
41. And king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
42. and that each should forsake his own laws. And all the nations agreed according to the word of the king;
43. and many of Israel consented to his worship, and sacrificed to the idols, and profaned the Sabbath.
44. And the king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land,
45. and should forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the Sabbaths and feasts,