1 The kindred, the Yehudim (Jews) who are in Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and those who are in the country of Yehudah (Judea), send greetings and good peace to the kindred, the Yehudim who are throughout Mitsrayim (Egypt). 2 May God do good to you, and remember his covenant with Avraham, Yitshak (Isaac), and Ya’akov (Jacob), his faithful servants, 3 and give you all a heart to worship him and do his will with a strong heart and a willing soul. 4 May God open your heart to his law and his statutes, and make peace, 5 and listen to your requests, and be reconciled with you, and not forsake you in an evil time. 6 Now we’re praying for you here.

7 In Demetrios’ reign, in the one hundred and sixty-ninth year, we the Yehudim have already written to you in the suffering and in the distress that’s come on us in these years, from the time that Yason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom, 8 and set the gate on fire, and shed innocent blood. We prayed to the master, and were heard. We offered sacrifices and meal offerings. We lit the lamps. We set out the show bread.[fn] 9 Now see that you keep the days of the feast of tabernacles in the month Kislev in the one hundred and eighty-eighth year.