3 Maccabees 7:2-4

Common English Bible

² We ourselves and our children also enjoy good health since the great God guides our affairs, as is our desire. ³ Certain of our friends, by frequently urging us out of spite, persuaded us to gather the Jews from throughout the kingdom together in one place and to torment them with unusual punishments as traitors. ⁴ They insisted that our government would never be stable until this was accomplished, due to the hostility that these people were said to have toward all the nations.