8 We have ordered them all to return, each and every one, to their homes. No one anywhere is to harm them at all, or cast any blame on them regarding these senseless events.
9 You should be aware that, if we ever devise any evil against these people or trouble them in any way, we won’t have a human being as our enemy but rather the Most High God, who is Lord over every power. It is he who will enforce the punishment for our actions in every way, and from him there is no escape. Farewell.
10 When the Jews received this letter, they didn’t rush to depart. Instead, they petitioned the king that they might carry out the punishment deserved by those Jews who had voluntarily turned aside from the holy God and God’s Law.
11 They insisted that those who had broken divine laws for the sake of the belly would never be reliable subjects under the king’s government either.
12 The king recognized and agreed that they were speaking the truth. So he gave them a free hand to utterly destroy those who had violated God’s Law in every place within his kingdom, and to do so with confidence and without needing royal approval or supervision.
13 Then they applauded him, as was fitting, and their priests and all the crowd shouted the Hallelujah joyously and departed.
14 On their way they punished and killed any fellow Jews they came upon who had polluted themselves, making a public example of them.