O king, how long will you try us…?: This is a rhetorical question. The guests are not asking the king for information. This question is really a protest. Try us means “test our patience.” So we may begin this question with “Your Majesty! How long are you going to test our patience?” or “… How long are you going to continue doing this?”

As though we are idiots may be translated “Do you think we are idiots?” or “We’re not fools!” (Contemporary English Version).

Ordering now for a third time that they be destroyed may be expressed as “This is the third time you have ordered the Jews to be killed.”

And again revoking your decree in the matter refers to what the guests think will probably happen, that the king will once again not carry out his decree against the Jews. At this particular moment it has not yet happened. Revised Standard Version‘s footnote here may be ignored.

These are harsh words to be addressed to a king, but they must sound as if the guests have lost all patience and are quickly losing confidence in the king. Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• “Your Majesty! How long are you going to continue doing this? Do you think we are idiots? This is the third time you’ve ordered the Jews to be killed [or, that the elephants kill the Jews]. Are you going to take this order back too?

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.