28
and will grant you many immunities and give you rewards.
29
"And now do I free you, and for your sake I release all the Jews from tribute and from the customs on salt and from crown taxes,
30
and from that which appertaineth unto me to receive a third part of the seed and half of the fruit of the trees. I release it from this day forth, so that they shall not be taken from the land of Judea, nor from the three governments which are added thereunto out of the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth for evermore.
31
Let Jerusalem also be holy and free, with the territories thereof, both from tithes and tribute.
32
And as for the tower which is at Jerusalem, I yield up my authority over it and give it to the high priest, that he may set in it such men as he shall choose to keep it.
33
Moreover I freely set at liberty every one of the Jews who were carried captive out of the land of Judea into any part of my kingdom, and I will that all my officers remit the tribute even on their cattle.
34
Furthermore, I will that all the feasts and Sabbaths and new moons and solemn days, and the three days before the feast and the three days after the feast, shall all be days of immunity and freedom for all the Jews in my realm.
35
Also no man shall have authority to meddle with them or to molest any of them in any matter.
36
"I will further that there be enrolled among the king's forces about thirty thousand men of the Jews, unto whom pay shall be given, as belongeth to all the king's forces.
37
And of them some shall be placed in the king's strongholds, of whom also some shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom in positions of trust. And I will that their overseers and governors be from among themselves and that they live by their own laws, even as the king hath commanded in the land of Judea.
38
"And concerning the three governments that are added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be joined with Judea, that they may be reckoned to be under one, not bound to obey other authority than the high priest's.