20
Mothers and nurses abandoned even newborn children here and there, some in houses and some in the streets, and without a backward look they crowded together at the most high temple.
21
Various were the supplications of those gathered there because of what the king was profanely plotting.
22
In addition, the bolder of the citizens would not tolerate the completion of his plans or the fulfillment of his intended purpose.
23
They shouted to their compatriots to take arms and die courageously for the ancestral law, and created a considerable disturbance in the holy place; and being barely restrained by the old men and the elders, they resorted to the same posture of supplication as the others.
24
Meanwhile the crowd, as before, was engaged in prayer,
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.