Oppression of the Jews

²⁰ After he conquered Egypt, Antiochus returned in the year 143.^[a] He went up to Israel and entered Jerusalem with a strong force. ²¹ With arrogance he went into the sanctuary. He took the gold altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its equipment. ²² He also took the table that was used for the sacred bread, drink-offering cups, bowls, gold censers, a curtain, crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple. He stripped it all. ²³ He took silver, gold, and costly equipment. He took every hidden treasure he could find. ²⁴ Taking it all, he went back to his own land. He committed murder and spoke very arrogantly.

Occupation of Jerusalem

²⁹ Two years later,^[b] to collect tribute from the Judean cities, King Antiochus sent his chief officer, who came to Jerusalem with a large army. ³⁰ The agent spoke peaceably and the Jews believed him, but he was deceitful. Without warning, he attacked the city, dealt it a brutal blow, and killed many Israelites. ³¹ He plundered the city. He set fires within it, destroyed its houses, and tore down its protective walls. ³² His forces took women and children as prisoners and seized livestock. ³³ After all of this, the agent’s forces fortified David’s City with a very strong wall and powerful towers, and it became their fortress. ³⁴ They stationed sinful, immoral people there, and these soldiers held down their position. ³⁵ They stocked up with weapons and food, collected the spoils of Jerusalem, and stored them there. They were a great menace.

Installation of Gentile worship

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^[d] drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had available.

⁵⁴ Now on the fifteenth day of Kislev,^[e] in the year 145, they set up a disgusting and destructive thing on the altar for entirely burned offerings in the sanctuary. The inspectors^[f] built other altars in the surrounding Judean towns. ⁵⁵ They burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets. ⁵⁶ When they found the Law scrolls, they tore them to pieces and burned them. ⁵⁷ If anyone was caught in possession of a copy of the covenant scroll or if anyone kept to the Law, that person was condemned to death by royal decree. ⁵⁸ They were unrelenting in attacking Israelites, all those who were identified as law-observant month after month throughout the towns. ⁵⁹ On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar built over the altar for entirely burned offerings. ⁶⁰ In keeping with the decree, they killed women who had circumcised their sons. ⁶¹ They hanged the infant boys from their mothers’ necks. The king’s agents also killed the families of the women as well as those who had performed the circumcisions.

⁶² But many in Israel stood strong, and they resolved in their hearts not to eat impure food. ⁶³ They chose to die rather than to be defiled by the food or to dishonor the holy covenant. And they did die. ⁶⁴ A great anger came against Israel.

²⁹ At the set time he will again battle against the south, but the second time will be different from the first. ³⁰ Kittim ships will fight against him, and he will retreat in fear. He will rage against a holy covenant and will do what he wants. Then he will pay special attention to those who violate a holy covenant. ³¹ His forces will come and make the sanctuary fortress impure. They will stop the daily sacrifice and set up a desolating monstrosity. ³² By deceitful means he will corrupt those who violate a covenant, but the people who acknowledge their God will stand strong and will act.

³³ “The people’s teachers will help many understand, but for a time they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder. ³⁴ When they fall, they will receive a little help, but many will join them with deceitful plans. ³⁵ Some of the teachers too will fall in order that they might be refined, purified, and cleansed—until an end time, because it is still not yet the set time.

An end to the arrogant king

³⁶ “The king will do whatever he wants. He will exalt himself, making himself greater than any god. He will say unbelievable things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the doom is completed, because what is decreed must take place. ³⁷ He will give no thought to the gods of his fathers, nor to the god cherished by women. He will give no thought to any god, because he will make himself greater than all of them. ³⁸ In their place, he will worship a god of walled fortresses. With gold and silver, rare stones and precious things, he will worship a god his fathers did not acknowledge. ³⁹ He will deal with walled fortresses with the help of a foreign god. He will heap rewards on those who support him, making them rule over many and dividing up the land for a price.