1 In every town where Philopator's letter was received, the leaders held a public feast in honor of the Greek people, who celebrated because they no longer had to hide their bitter hatred of the Jews.

2 Es 4.3. But the Jews in these towns were extremely frightened and depressed, and they could not stop mourning and crying about the king's command to kill them. 3 In the streets of every city and village in the kingdom, Jews groaned in sorrow 4 as army commanders prepared to send them to Alexandria.

The punishment of the Jews was so severe that some of their enemies cried and felt sorry that they had to face such a horrible death. 5 Old men who could barely walk were cruelly forced to march out of their hometowns in straight lines, 6 1 Macc 1.26,27; 3 Macc 1.18,19. and young women who had just been married stopped singing joyful songs and moaned in sadness. Many of them sprinkled ashes on their sweet-smelling hair and removed their wedding veils, and they cried aloud as the Greek officers severely abused them.*as the Greek officers severely abused them: Greek; other ancient translations “as if the Greek officers had beaten them with whips.” 7 The crowds watched as these brides were dragged in chains to the dock where boats were waiting to take them to Alexandria. 8 Their new husbands also realized they would soon die. They were forced to wear ropes around their necks instead of flowers, and they stopped their joyful celebration and moaned in pain. Jewish bridegrooms were led along the streets with ropes instead of chains of flowers around their necks. What should have been a time for them to celebrate became a time to mourn, because they knew they were going to die.

9 3 Macc 3.25; 5.5. The Jews were tied in chains and dragged on board the boats like wild animals. Some of them were tied to the benches with ropes around their necks, while others were held there with chains around their ankles. 10 They were all treated like rebels and were put below deck so they would be in total darkness during the trip to Alexandria.

11 The boats that brought the Jews to Alexandria docked at Schedia.†Schedia: Probably a large, rocky harbor near the city of Alexandria. Then Philopator gave orders to move the Jews at once to the large stadium in front of the city gate. He did this so that everyone leaving or entering Alexandria could see the Jews and make fun of them. Besides that, the Jews would not be close enough to talk to the king's bodyguard, and they would not be in the city itself.‡would not be in the city itself: Or “could not claim they deserved the protection of the city walls.”

12 3 Macc 3.1. Some of the Jews of Alexandria secretly left the city from time to time and went to the stadium, where they mourned the terrible punishment of the Jewish prisoners. Philopator heard about this and was so furious 13 that he commanded his troops to punish every Jew in Alexandria the same way! 14 3 Macc 2.28. The name of every Jew was to be written in government records, but this time the Jews would not become slaves—the king planned for them to be violently tortured and then put to death. 15 2 Macc 5.2. Although the king's officials worked forty days to register Jews, they still did not finish.

16 Ro 1.28; Dn 5.3,4; 3 Macc 1.9. Philopator was excited that the Jews were finally going to be punished as he had planned, and he started behaving in odd ways and making no sense when he talked. He held feasts to honor his idols and praised them, even though they could not speak or help anyone. Philopator even dared to curse God Most High!

17 Meanwhile, the officials who were in charge of registering the Jews went to the king and said, “We cannot finish this job. There are simply too many of them. 18 Even if we had every general in Egypt helping us, it would be impossible. There are Jews still being brought to the stadium from their homes in the countryside.”

19 3 Macc 2.32. Philopator threatened to arrest these officials and accused them of accepting bribes from the Jews. Yet he quickly changed his mind 20 when he saw that the officials had already run out of paper and pens. 21 He did not realize that God All-Powerful had made this happen so that the Jews would be rescued.

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