1 Maccabees 9:53-55

Good News Translation

⁵³ Then he took the sons of the leading men of the country as hostages and imprisoned them in the fort.

⁵⁴ In the second month of the year 153,^[a] the High Priest Alcimus ordered that the wall of the inner court of the Temple be torn down. This would have destroyed what the prophets had accomplished; but just as the work began, ⁵⁵ he had a stroke, and work was stopped. Paralyzed and unable to open his mouth, he could not speak or even make a will for his family.