3 Maccabees 6:31-33

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³¹ Accordingly, those disgracefully treated and near to Hades, 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 groups of revelers 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 Savior and worker of wonders.^[a] Putting an end to all mourning and wailing, they formed choruses^[b] as a sign of peaceful joy. ³³ Likewise also the king, after convening a lavish banquet to celebrate these events, gave thanks to heaven unceasingly and lavishly for the unexpected rescue that he^[c] had experienced.