Copies of this letter were sent to Jews in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of King Xerxes. In the letter they said: We pray that all of you will live in peace and safety.
The Lord has said: "These people praise me with their words, but they never really think about me. They worship me by repeating rules made up by humans.
You are a spring of water giving Israel life and hope. But if the people reject what you have told me, they will be swept away like words written in dust.
You people aren't faithful to God! Don't you know that if you love the world, you are God's enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.