2 Maccabees 6:7-9

Good News Translation

⁷ Each month when the king's birthday was celebrated, the Jews were compelled by brute force to eat the intestines of sacrificial animals. Then, during the festival in honor of the wine god Dionysus, they were required to wear ivy wreaths on their heads and march in procession. ⁸ On the advice of Ptolemy,^[a] the neighboring Greek cities were also instructed to require Jews to eat the sacrifices; ⁹ they were told to put to death every Jew who refused to adopt the Greek way of life. It was easy to see that hard times were ahead.