2 Maccabees 4:17-19

Good News Translation

¹⁷ It is a serious thing to disregard God's Law, as you will see from the following events.

Jerusalem under Syrian Influence

¹⁸ Once when the king was present for the athletic games that were held every five^[a] years in the city of Tyre, ¹⁹ that worthless Jason sent some men there from Jerusalem, who were also enrolled as citizens of Antioch, to take 22,500 pounds of silver to pay for a sacrifice to the god Hercules. But even these men did not think it was fitting to use such a large sum of money for a sacrifice, and