4 Maccabees 4:22-24

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²² For when he was warring against Ptolemy in Egypt, he heard that a rumor of his death had spread and that the people of Jerusalem had rejoiced greatly. He speedily marched against them,^{(A) 23} and after he had ravaged them he issued a decree that if any of them were found observing the ancestral law they should die.^{(B) 24} When, by means of his decrees, he had not been able in any way to put an end to the people’s observance of the law but saw that all his threats and punishments were being disregarded,