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Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land;
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they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had.
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Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah,
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and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
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The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire.
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Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king.
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They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns.
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On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering.
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According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised,
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and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks.
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But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food.