3 Maccabees 7:10-20

10 Upon receiving this letter the Jews did not immediately hurry to make their departure, but they requested of the king that at their own hands those of the Jewish nation who had willfully transgressed against the holy God and the law of God should receive the punishment they deserved.
11 For they declared that those who for the belly's sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favorably disposed toward the king's government.
12 The king then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general license so that freely and without royal authority or supervision they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God.
13 When they had applauded him in fitting manner, their priests and the whole multitude shouted the Hallelujah and joyfully departed.
14 And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled.
15 In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners.
16 But those who had held fast to God even to death and had received the full enjoyment of deliverance began their departure from the city, crowned with all sorts of very fragrant flowers, joyfully and loudly giving thanks to the one God of their fathers, the eternal Savior of Israel, in words of praise and all kinds of melodious songs.
17 When they had arrived at Ptolemais, called "rose-bearing" because of a characteristic of the place, the fleet waited for them, in accord with the common desire, for seven days.
18 There they celebrated their deliverance, for the king had generously provided all things to them for their journey, to each as far as his own house.
19 And when they had landed in peace with appropriate thanksgiving, there too in like manner they decided to observe these days as a joyous festival during the time of their stay.
20 Then, after inscribing them as holy on a pillar and dedicating a place of prayer at the site of the festival, they departed unharmed, free, and overjoyed, since at the king's command they had been brought safely by land and sea and river each to his own place.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.