3 Maccabees 6:35-37

Revised Standard Version

³⁵ But the Jews, when they had arranged the aforementioned choral group, as we have said before, passed the time in feasting to the accompaniment of joyous thanksgiving and psalms. ³⁶ And when they had ordained a public rite for these things in their whole community and for their descendants, they instituted the observance of the aforesaid days as a festival, not for drinking and gluttony, but because of the deliverance that had come to them through God. ³⁷ Then they petitioned the king, asking for dismissal to their homes.