1 Maccabees 9:52-54

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

⁵² And he fortified the city of Bethsura, and Gazara, and the castle, and set garrisons in them, and provisions of victuals:

⁵³ And he took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them in the castle in Jerusalem in custody.

⁵⁴ Now in the year one hundred and fifty-three, the second month, Alcimus commanded the walls of the inner court of the sanctuary to be thrown down, and the works of the prophets to be destroyed: and he began to be destroyed: and he began to destroy.