2 Maccabees 9:12-17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹² And when he could not endure his own stench, he uttered these words, “It is right to be subject to God; mortals should not think that they are equal to God.”^[a](A)

Antiochus Makes a Promise to God

¹³ Then the abominable fellow made a vow to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him, stating^{(B) 14} that the holy city, which he was hurrying to level to the ground and to make a cemetery, he was now declaring to be free,^{(C) 15} and the Jews, whom he had not considered worth burying but had planned to throw out with their children for the wild animals and for the birds to eat, he would make, all of them, equal to citizens of Athens,^{(D) 16} and the holy sanctuary, which he had formerly plundered, he would adorn with the finest offerings, and all the holy vessels he would give back many times over, and the expenses incurred for the sacrifices he would provide from his own revenues,^{(E) 17} and in addition to all this he also would become a Jew and would visit every inhabited place to proclaim the power of God.