2 Maccabees 4:47

47 Menelaus, the cause of all the trouble, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scythians.

2 Maccabees 4:47 In-Context

45 But Menelaus, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe to Ptolemy son of Dorymenes to win over the king.
46 Therefore Ptolemy, taking the king aside into a colonnade as if for refreshment, induced the king to change his mind.
47 Menelaus, the cause of all the trouble, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scythians.
48 And so those who had spoken for the city and the villages and the holy vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty.
49 Therefore even the Tyrians, showing their hatred of the crime, provided magnificently for their funeral.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.