3 Maccabees 5:39-41

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

³⁹ But the officials who were at table with him, wondering at his instability of mind, remonstrated as follows: ⁴⁰ ‘O king, how long will you put us to the test, as though we are idiots, ordering now for a third time that they be destroyed, and again revoking your decree in the matter?^{[a] 41} As a result the city is in a tumult because of its expectation; it is crowded with masses of people, and also in constant danger of being plundered.’