3 Maccabees 2:25-27

Revised Standard Version

Hostile Measures against the Jews

²⁵ When he arrived in Egypt, he increased in his deeds of malice, abetted by the previously mentioned drinking companions and comrades, who were strangers to everything just. ²⁶ He was not content with his uncounted licentious deeds, but he also continued with such audacity that he framed evil reports in the various localities; and many of his friends, intently observing the king’s purpose, themselves also followed his will. ²⁷ He proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community,^[a] and he set up a stone^[b] on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription: