3 Maccabees 7:10-12

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

The Jews Return Home with Joy

¹⁰ On receiving this letter the Jews^[a] did not immediately hurry to make their departure, but they requested of the king that at their own hands those of the Jewish nation who had wilfully transgressed against the holy God and the law of God should receive the punishment they deserved. ¹¹ They declared that those who for the belly’s sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favourably disposed towards the king’s government. ¹² The king^[b] then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general licence so that freely, and without royal authority or supervision, they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God.