3 Maccabees 1:20-22

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁰ Mothers and nurses abandoned even newborn children here and there, some in houses and some in the streets, and without a backward look they crowded together at the most high temple. ²¹ Various were the supplications of those gathered there because of what the king was profanely plotting.^{(A) 22} In addition, the bolder of the citizens would not tolerate the completion of his plans or the fulfillment of his intended purpose.