⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. ^(A)Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them.

²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹ They ^(A)advocate customs that are not lawful for us ^(B)as Romans to accept or practice.”

¹² be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are ^(A)finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay ^(B)tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. ¹⁴ Now because we eat the salt of the palace^[a] and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, ¹⁵ in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste.

²⁷ And the Lord ^(A)will scatter you among the peoples, ^(B)and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.

³³ And ^(A)I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

Greeting

1 ^(A)James, a servant^[a] of God and ^(B)of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To ^(C)the twelve tribes in ^(D)the Dispersion:

Greetings.

²² But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this ^(A)sect we know that everywhere ^(B)it is spoken against.”

⁵ For we have found this man a plague, ^(A)one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of ^(B)the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶ And when they could not find them, ^(A)they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against ^(B)the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is ^(C)another king, Jesus.”

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^(A)Does he intend to go to ^(B)the Dispersion among ^(C)the Greeks and teach the Greeks?