2 Maccabees 4:46-48

Good News Translation

⁴⁶ Ptolemy then asked the king to go outside the courtroom with him, as though to get some fresh air, and there he persuaded him to change his mind ⁴⁷ and declare Menelaus innocent of the charges against him. So Menelaus was set free, although he had caused the trouble; but the three men, whom even the cruel Scythians would have declared innocent, were sentenced to death. ⁴⁸ The three men had spoken in defense of Jerusalem, its people,^[a] and the sacred objects stolen from the Temple, but they were quickly and unjustly executed.