2 Maccabees 4:17-19

Common English Bible

¹⁷ To be ungodly in the face of the divine laws isn’t a light matter, as the following events would reveal.

¹⁸ Once when the king was present at the athletic games they held every five years in Tyre, ¹⁹ the evil Jason sent residents of Jerusalem who were now citizens of Antioch as his envoys, carrying three hundred silver drachmen^[a] for the sacrifice to Hercules. Because it was inappropriate, the envoys didn’t think it was right to use these funds for sacrifice. Instead, they applied the expense to something else.