33 Antiochus ordered his army to build a fortress in Jerusalem and put up high, thick walls and strong towers.
34 There they stationed some Jewish troops who had rejected God's Law.
35 They stored in the fortress the weapons, the food, and everything they had stolen from Jerusalem. And they became a great threat.
36 The soldiers in the fortressattacked the templeand never stopped doinghorrible things to Israel.
37 They killed innocent peopleall around the temple,and they made it unfitas a place of worship.
38 Everyone ran from Jerusalem.Their own city becamea foreign country to them,and strangers moved in.
39 The temple was barrenjust like a desert,and its festivals and Sabbathsbecame times of sorrowand of shame.Jerusalem had lost all respect.