1 Maccabees 4:45
King James VersionSource notes
“They thought it best to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled it: wherefore they pulled it down,”
Context
42So he chose priests of blameless conversation, such as had pleasure in the law:
43Who cleansed the sanctuary, and bare out the defiled stones into an unclean place.
44And when as they consulted what to do with the altar of burnt offerings, which was profaned;
45They thought it best to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled it: wherefore they pulled it down,
46And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to shew what should be done with them.
47Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former;
48And made up the sanctuary, and the things that were within the temple, and hallowed the courts.