3 Maccabees 1:16

The Jews’ reaction

16 But the priests fell to the ground, still in their sacred robes. They filled the temple with crying and tears, praying to the supreme God to help them and to change the mind of the one who was wrongly imposing himself.

3 Maccabees 1:16 In-Context

14 And someone said (without thinking) that he was wrong to speak of this as a sign.

15 "But even if for some reason this were true," Philopator replied, "why should I, of all people, not enter, whether they are willing or not?"

16 But the priests fell to the ground, still in their sacred robes. They filled the temple with crying and tears, praying to the supreme God to help them and to change the mind of the one who was wrongly imposing himself.

17 Those who were left in the city were troubled and hurried out, thinking something mysterious was happening.

18 The young girls who had been kept secluded at home rushed out with their mothers. They sprinkled their hair with dust and began to fill the streets with weeping and groaning.