§7.1Βασιλεὺς Πτολεμαῖος Φιλοπάτωρ τοῖς κατʼ Aἴγυπτον στρατηγοῖς καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς τεταγμένοις ἐπὶ πραγμάτων χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρῶσθαι. §7.2ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν, κατευθύνοντος ἡμῖν τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ τὰ προστάγματα, καθὼς προαιρούμεθα. §7.3τῶν φίλων τινὲς κατὰ κακοήθειαν πυκνότερον ἡμῖν παρακείμενοι, συνέπεισαν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλείαν Ἰουδαίους συναθροίσαντας τὰ σνστήματα κολάζεσθαι ξενιζούσαις ἀποστάντων τιμωρίαις· §7.4προφερόμενοι μηδέποτε εὐσταθήσειν τὰ πράγματα ἡμῶν, δι᾿ ἣν ἔχουσιν οὗτοι πρὸς τὰ ἔθνη δυσμενίαν, μέχρι ἄν συντελεσθῇ τοῦτο. §7.5οἴ καὶ δεσμίους καταγαγόντες αὐτοὺς μετὰ σκυλμῶν ὡς ἀνδράποδα, μᾶλλον δὲ ὡς ἐπιβούλους, ἄνευ πάσης ἀνακρίσεως καὶ ἐξετάσεως ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνελεῖν, νόμου Σκυθῶν ἀγριοτέραν ἐνπεπηρμένοι ὠμότητα. §7.6ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις σκληρότερον διαπειλησάμενοι, καθʼ ἣν ἔχομεν πρὸς ἄπαντας ἀνθρώπους ἐπιεικίαν, μόγις τὸ ζῆν αὐτοῖς χαριζόμενοι, καὶ τὸν ἐπουράνιον θεὸν ἐγνωκότες ἀσφαλῶς ὑπερησπικότα τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὡς πατέρα ὑπέρ υἱῶν διὰ παντὸς συμμαχοῦντα, §7.7τὴν τε τοῦ φίλου ἣν ἔχουσιν βεβαίαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ τοὺς προγόνους ἡμῶν εὔνοιαν ἀναλογισάμενοι, δικαίως ἀπολελύκαμεν πάσης καθʼ ὁντινοῦν αἰτίας τρόπον. §7.8καὶ προστετάχαμεν ἑκάστῳ πάντας εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἐπιστρέφειν, ἐν παντὶ τρόπῳ μηθενὸς αὐτοὺς τὸ σύνολον καταβλάπτοντος, μήτε ὀνειδίζοντος περὶ τῶν γεγενημένων παρὰ λόγον. §7.9γινώσκετε γὰρ ὅτι κατὰ τούτων ἐάν τι κακοτεχνήσωμεν πονηρόν, ἢ ἐπιλυπήσωμεν αὐτοὺς τὸ σύνολον, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸν πάσης δεσπόζοντα δυνάρεως θεὸν ὕψιστον ἀντικείμενον ἡμῖν ἐπʼ ἐκδίκησιν τῶν πραγμάτων κατὰ πᾶν ἀφεύκτως διὰ παντὸς ἕξομεν.
King Ptolemy Philopator, to the generals in Egypt and all who are in authority, greeting and good health. We ourselves and our children are in good health, the great God directing our affairs as we desire. Some of our friends, out of malice frequently pressing upon us, persuaded us to gather together the Jews under our kingdom in groups to be punished with unusual penalties for rebels; asserting that our affairs would never be stable, on account of the ill-will which these people bear toward the nations, until this should be accomplished. And they, having brought them down as prisoners with ill-treatment like slaves, or rather like conspirators, attempted to destroy them without any trial or examination, clothed with a cruelty more savage than the law of the Scythians. But we, having threatened more severely in response to these things, according to the clemency we have toward all men, with difficulty granting them their lives, and knowing that the heavenly God has securely shielded the Jews, fighting on their side continually as a father for his sons, and having considered the steadfast goodwill of friendship which they have toward us and our ancestors, have justly released them from every kind of accusation on any ground. And we have commanded everyone to return to their own homes, with no one in any way harming them at all, nor reproaching them for the things that have happened contrary to reason. For know that if we devise any evil mischief against them, or trouble them at all, we shall have, not man, but the Most High God, the Lord of all power, set against us as an avenger for these deeds, inescapably in all things and always.
ἔρρωσθε. §7.10Δαβόντες δὲ· τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ταύτην, οὐκ ἐσπούδασαν εὐθέως περὶ τὴν ἄφοδον, ἀλλὰ τὸν βασιλέα προσηξίωσαν τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸν ἅγιον θεὸν αὐθαιρέτως παραβεβηκότας τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν νόμον, τυχεῖν δι᾿ αὐτῶν τῆς ὀφειλομένης κολάσεως· §7.11προφερόμενοι τοὺς γαστρὸς ἕνεκεν τὰ θεῖα παραβεβηκότας προστάγματα μηδέποτε εὐνοήσειν μηδὲ τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως προστάγμασιν. §7.12ὁ δὲ τἀληθές αὐτοὺς λέγειν παραδεξάμενος καὶ παραινέσας, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἄδειαν πάντων, ὅπως τοὺς παραβεβηκότας τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν νόμον ἐξολεθρεύσωσιν κατὰ πάντα τὸν ὑπὸ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ τόπον μετὰ παρρησίας, ἄνευ πάσης βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας καὶ ἐπισκέψεως. §7.13τότε κατευφημήσαντες αὐτόν, ὡς πρέπον ἦν, οἱ τούτων ἱερεῖς καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος, ἐπιφωνήσαντες τὸ ἁλληλουιά, μετὰ χαρᾶς ἀνέλυσαν· §7.14οὗτοί τε τὸν ἐμπεσόντα τῶν μεμιαμμένων ὁμοεθνῆ κατὰ τὴν ὀδὸν ἀπέκτεννον, καὶ μετὰ παραδιγματισμῶν ἀνήρουν. §7.15ἐκείνῃ δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀνεῖλον ὑπέρ τοὺς τριακοσίους ἄνδρας, ἣν καὶ ἤγαγον εὐφροσύνην μετὰ χαρᾶς βεβήλους χειρωσάμενοι. §7.16αὐτοὶ δὲ οἱ μέχρι θανάτου τὸν θεὸν ἐσχηκότες, παντελῆ σωτηρίαν ἀπόλυσιν ἐσχηκότες, ἀνέζευξαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως βοῆς, ἐν αἴνοις καὶ πανμελέσιν ὕμνοις εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ θεῷ τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν ἁγίῳ σωτῆρι τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. §7.17Παραγενηθέντες δὲ εἰς Πτολεμαίδα τὴν ὀνομαζομένην διὰ τὴν τοῦ τόπου ἰδιότητα ῥοδοφόρον, ἐν ᾖ προσέμεινεν αὐτοὺς ὁ στόλος κατὰ κοινὴν αὐτῶν βουλὴν ἡμέρας ἑπτά, §7.18ἐκεῖ ἐποίησαν πότον σωτηρίου, τοῦ βασιλέως χορηγήσαντος αὐτοῖς εὐψύχως τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἄφιξιν πάντα ἑκάστῳ ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν. §7.19καταχθέντες δέ μετʼ εἰρήνης ἐν ταῖς πρεπούσαις ἐξομολογήσεσιν, ὡσαύτως κἀκεῖ ἔστησαν καὶ ταύτας ἄγειν τὰς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς παροικίας αὐτῶν χρόνον εὐφροσύνους· §7.20ἃς καὶ ἀνιερώσαντες ἐν στήλῃ, κατὰ τὸν τῆς συμποσίας τόπον προσευχῆς καθιδρύσαντες, ἀνέλυσαν ἀσινεῖς, ἐλεύθεροι, ὑπερχαρεῖς, διά τε γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης καὶ ποταμοῦ ἀνασωζόμενοι τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιταγῇ, ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν §7.21ἔμπροσθεν, ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐξουσίαν ἐσχηκότες μετὰ δόξης καὶ φόβου, τὸ σύνολον ὑπὸ μηδενὸς διασεισθέντες τῶν ὑπαρχόντων. §7.22καὶ πάντα τὰ ἑαυτῶν πάντες ἐκομίσαντο ἐξ ἀπογραφῆς, ὥστε τοὺς ἔχοντάς τι μετὰ φόρου μεγίστου ἀποδοῦναι αὐτοῖς, τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ ποιήσαντος τελέως ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ αὐτῶν.
Farewell. Now when they had received this letter, they did not hasten immediately to depart, but petitioned the king that those of the nation of the Jews who had voluntarily transgressed against the holy God and the law of God should receive through them their deserved punishment; asserting that those who had transgressed the divine commandments for the sake of the belly would never be well-disposed to the king's commandments either. And he, accepting and commending them for speaking the truth, gave them full permission to utterly destroy those who had transgressed the law of God in every place under his kingdom, with boldness, without any royal authority and oversight. Then, having acclaimed him as was fitting, their priests and the whole multitude, shouting out "Hallelujah", departed with joy. And they put to death any of their defiled compatriots whom they met on the way, and destroyed them with public exposure. On that day they destroyed more than three hundred men, and kept the day as a festival with joy, having subdued the profane. But they who had held fast to God even unto death, having obtained perfect salvation and release, set out from the city with shouting, giving thanks to the God of their fathers, the holy Savior of Israel, in praises and harmonious hymns. And when they arrived at Ptolemais, called because of the characteristic of the place "rose-bearing", where by their common counsel the fleet waited for them seven days, there they made a banquet of salvation, the king having cheerfully supplied them with all things for their journey, for each one until he reached his own home. And having been brought down in peace with fitting thanksgiving, they likewise ordained there also to keep these days as joyful during the time of their sojourning. And having dedicated these things on a pillar in the place of their feasting where they established a house of prayer, they departed unharmed, free, and exceedingly joyful, being brought back safely by land, sea, and river, by the command of the king, each to his former home, having authority over their enemies with glory and fear, being in no way disturbed by anyone regarding their possessions. And they all recovered all their property from the registration, so that those who held anything returned it to them with the greatest fear, the great God having perfectly accomplished mighty deeds for their salvation. Blessed be the Deliverer of Israel unto all times.
§7.23Εὐλογητὸς ὁ ῥύστης Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τοὺς ἀεὶ χρόνους. ἀμήν.
Amen.