confession of sins; and an entreaty that God would show him great mercy
and goodness, forgive him, and condemn him not into the lower parts of
the earth. Therefore, he would praise the Lord for ever, all the days of
his life.


THE FIRST BOOK OF THE MACCABEES


Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh
year of the kingdom of the Greeks. In those days certain wicked men of
Israel went to the king, who gave them licence to do after the
ordinances of the heathen. Whereupon, they built a place of exercise at
Jerusalem according to the custom of the heathen. Now, Antiochus made
war against Egypt, and when he had smitten the strong cities, and taken
the spoils thereof, he returned in the hundred forty and third year and
went up against Israel and Jerusalem, and captured the city with great
massacre and spoiled the Temple, and took away the vessels of gold and
silver and hidden treasures which he found therein. Therefore, there was
great mourning in Israel. Two years after, the king sent his chief
collector of tribute unto the cities of Juda, and he fell suddenly upon
Jerusalem, set fire to it, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof.
And the women and children he took away captive, and defiled the
sanctuary.

But the enemy builded the city of David, with a great and strong wall
and mighty towers, and stored it with armour and victuals and the spoils
of Jerusalem, so that it became a sore snare against the sanctuary and
an evil adversary to Israel. Moreover, King Antiochus wrote to his whole
kingdom that all should be one people, and sent letters unto Jerusalem