1. Shortly afterward the king sent out an Athenian elder to force the Jews to turn away from their ancestral laws and stop living according to God’s laws.
2. He was also ordered to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to rename it for Zeus Olympus, and to rename the temple in Mount Gerizim for Zeus, Friend of Strangers, just as the people living there requested.
3. The onslaught of this evil was severe and hard for all to bear.
4. The Gentiles filled the temple with wild partying and sexual indulgence. They were entertaining themselves with prostitutes and having sex with women in the priestly chambers. In addition, they carried in unfit things,
5. and the altar was illegally covered with offerings forbidden by the laws.
6. It was impossible to keep the Sabbath or the ancestral festivals, or even simply to profess to be a Jew.
7. Instead, out of bitter necessity, they had to observe the birthday of the king each month by eating the organs of sacrificial animals. When the Festival of Dionysus arrived, they were forced to take part in a procession honoring Dionysus, holding ivy wreaths.
8. At Ptolemais’ suggestion, a decision was announced to the neighboring Greek cities that they should adopt the same policy against the Jews and that they should be made to eat the sacrificial portions,