2 Maccabees 3:18-20

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁸ People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the holy place was about to be brought into dishonor.^{(A) 19} Women girded with sackcloth under their breasts thronged the streets. Some of the young women who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows.^{(B) 20} And holding up their hands to heaven, they all made supplication.^(C)