3 Maccabees 1:15-17

Revised Standard Version

¹⁵ “But since this has happened,” the king^[a] said, “why should not I at least enter, whether they wish it or not?”

Jewish Resistance to Ptolemy

¹⁶ Then the priests in all their vestments prostrated themselves and entreated the supreme God^[b] to aid in the present situation and to avert the violence of this evil design, and they filled the temple with cries and tears; ¹⁷ and those who remained behind in the city were agitated and hurried out, supposing that something mysterious was occurring.