2 Maccabees 6:5-7

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁵ The altar was covered with abominable offerings that were forbidden by the laws.^{(A) 6} People could neither keep the Sabbath nor observe the festivals of their ancestors nor so much as confess themselves to be Jews.^(B)

⁷ On the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday, the Jews^[a] were taken, under bitter constraint, to partake of the sacrifices, and when a festival of Dionysus was celebrated, they were compelled to wear wreaths of ivy and to walk in the procession in honor of Dionysus.^(C)