Chapter 146
1 Then indeed the forces dwelling in Syria, hearing what had happened, ran against them and made war upon them on the day of the Sabbath. But they, fearing the law of God and held fast by the commandment of God, neither raised a hand against them nor flung a stone at them, nor blocked up their hiding-places.
2 And those men answered them and said: “Even now come out and carry out the king’s command, and you shall live.” But they said: “We will not come out, nor will we carry out the king’s command; we will die in our innocence. Heaven and earth bear witness against us, that you are destroying us unjustly.”
3 Then they fell upon them with fire and with slaughter and with captivity, and they killed of them as many as a thousand souls.
4 So then there are fulfilled the things spoken to the blessed Daniel: “And he shall enter in with violence, and his heart shall be lifted up against the holy covenant, and he shall wish to do all things according to his heart; and my servants shall be afflicted and shall be brought low by famine and by the sword and by captivity.”