3 Maccabees 1:24

24 Meanwhile the crowd, as before, was engaged in prayer,

3 Maccabees 1:24 In-Context

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,

25 while the elders near the king tried in various ways to change his arrogant mind from the plan that he had conceived.

26 But he, in his arrogance, took heed of nothing, and began now to approach, determined to bring the aforesaid plan to a conclusion.