44The king sent letters by messenger to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land;
45to prohibit burnt offerings, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbaths and feast days,
46to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers,
47to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,
48to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to defile themselves with every kind of impurity and abomination;
49so that they might forget the law and change all its ordinances.
50Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king was to be put to death.h
51In words such as these he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn.
52Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land.
53They drove Israel into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.
54On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five,* the king erected the desolating abomination upon the altar of burnt offerings, and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.i
55They also burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.
56Any scrolls of the law* that they found they tore up and burned.
57Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law, was condemned to death by royal decree.
58So they used their power against Israel, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities.
59On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the pagan altar that was over the altar of burnt offerings.
60In keeping with the decree, they put to death women who had their children circumcised,
61and they hung their babies from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed.
45to prohibit burnt offerings, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbaths and feast days,
46to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers,
47to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,
48to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to defile themselves with every kind of impurity and abomination;
49so that they might forget the law and change all its ordinances.
50Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king was to be put to death.h
51In words such as these he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn.
52Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land.
53They drove Israel into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.
54On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five,* the king erected the desolating abomination upon the altar of burnt offerings, and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.i
55They also burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.
56Any scrolls of the law* that they found they tore up and burned.
57Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law, was condemned to death by royal decree.
58So they used their power against Israel, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities.
59On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the pagan altar that was over the altar of burnt offerings.
60In keeping with the decree, they put to death women who had their children circumcised,
61and they hung their babies from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed.
