3 Maccabees 3:1-2

Common English Bible

Genocide, slander, and neighborly advocates

3 When the godless Philopator learned of this, he became so enraged that not only was he angry at those Jews in Alexandria but he also was very bitterly opposed to those living in the countryside. He gave an order that they should all be gathered together at once into one place and killed by the most brutal means possible. ² While these plans were being put into action, some people plotted to injure the Jewish nation by circulating a hostile report against them on the pretext that the Jews were hindering others from practicing their own customs.