3 Maccabees 6:31-33

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

³¹ Accordingly those disgracefully treated and near to death,^[a] or rather, who stood at its gates, arranged for a banquet of deliverance instead of a bitter and lamentable death, and full of joy they apportioned to celebrants the place that had been prepared for their destruction and burial. ³² They stopped their chanting of dirges and took up the song of their ancestors, praising God, their Saviour and worker of wonders.^[b] Putting an end to all mourning and wailing, they formed choruses^[c] as a sign of peaceful joy. ³³ Likewise also the king, after convening a great banquet to celebrate these events, gave thanks to heaven unceasingly and lavishly for the unexpected rescue that he^[d] had experienced.