1Then, having summoned Hermon, the one in charge of the elephants, filled with heavy anger and rage and utterly resolute,
2he commanded that on the coming day all the elephants, five hundred in number, be given generous handfuls of frankincense and much unmixed wine to drink. And when they had been maddened by the abundant supply of the drink, they were to be led in to accomplish the doom of the Jews.
3Having given these orders, he turned to feasting, gathering together those of his friends and of the army who were most hostile toward the Jews.
4But Hermon, the master of the elephants, steadfastly carried out the order.
5And the officials under him went out in the evening and bound the hands of the sufferers, and they arranged the remaining security measures around them for the night, supposing that the whole race would meet its destructive end at once.
6But the Jews, who seemed to the Gentiles to be destitute of all protection because of the constraint of bonds that surrounded them on every side,
7all called out with tears in an unceasing cry to the almighty Lord and ruler of all power, their merciful God and Father, pleading
8that he would reverse the unholy plan against them and rescue them with a glorious manifestation from the doom that was imminent at their feet.
9So then, their fervent supplication ascended to heaven.
10But Hermon, having given the merciless elephants their drink—filled with the large supply of wine and full of frankincense—was present at the court at dawn to report these things to the king.
11But he who grants to all, to whomever he himself wills, sent a portion of sleep to the king—that good creation from eternal time, bestowed by night and by day.
12And by the working of the Lord he was seized by a most sweet and deep sleep, greatly frustrated in his lawless purpose and completely thwarted in his unchangeable plan.
13And the Jews, having escaped the appointed hour, praised their holy God. And again they asked the easily reconciled one to show the power of his own mighty hand to the arrogant Gentiles.
14And when it was now about the middle of the tenth hour, the one appointed over the invitations, seeing the guests assembled, approached and nudged the king.
15And having roused him with difficulty, he pointed out that the time for the banquet was already passing, making his report about the matter.
16The king, considering this, turned to the drinking and commanded those who had come for the banquet to recline opposite him.
17When this was done, he urged them to give themselves to feasting and to set aside the present part of the banquet for merriment, honoring it greatly.
18But as the conversation went on, the king summoned Hermon and, with a bitter threat, inquired for what reason the Jews had been let alone to survive the present day.
19And when Hermon pointed out that he had carried the command to completion during the night, and the king’s friends also testified to it,
20he, with a cruelty worse than Phalaris, said that they had his sleep to thank for today. “But without delay,” he said, “prepare the elephants in the same way for the coming day, for the annihilation of the lawless Jews.”
21When the king had spoken, all who were present gladly agreed together with joy, and each departed to his own home.
22And they did not use the time of the night so much for sleep as for devising all kinds of mockery against those who seemed so wretched.
23Just as the rooster crowed at dawn, Hermon, having prepared the beasts, was moving them about in the great colonnade.
24And the crowds throughout the city had gathered for the most pitiful spectacle, eagerly awaiting the morning.
25But the Jews, at their last gasp for a brief time, stretched their hands to heaven and with tearful supplication in mournful songs begged the most great God to help them again quickly.
26The sun’s rays were not yet shining down, and as the king was receiving his friends, Hermon came forward and called him to go out, pointing out that what the king desired was ready.
27But when the king received him, he was astonished at this lawless summons to go out, and being seized by a complete lack of recognition, he inquired what this business was that was being carried out for him with such haste.
28But this was the working of the God who rules over all, who had placed forgetfulness in his mind concerning the things he had previously devised.
29Hermon and all the king’s friends pointed to the beasts and the forces, saying, “It is ready, O king, according to your earnest purpose.”
30But he, filled with heavy rage at these words—because by the providence of God his every thought about these things had been scattered—stared at them with a threat and said:
31As for all the parents who were present, or the children of their children—they have prepared this lavish feast for wild beasts, in return for the complete and firm loyalty that the blameless Jews have preeminently shown to me and my ancestors.
32Indeed, were it not for my affection for your faction and our need of you, you would have been deprived of life instead of them.
33Thus Hermon endured an unexpected and dangerous threat, and he became downcast in his gaze and countenance.
34And each of the friends, withdrawing sullenly, dismissed those who had gathered, each to his own business.
35And the Jews, when they heard what the king had said, began to praise the manifest God and Lord, the King of kings, because they had obtained this help from him.
36Then the king, reassembling the whole banquet according to the same customs, urged them to turn to merriment.
37But he summoned Hermon and said with a threat, “How many times must I command you about these very things, you most wretched man?”
38Arm the elephants right now for tomorrow, for the annihilation of the Jews.
39But his kinsmen who were reclining with him, marveling at his unstable mind, began to say this:
40“O King, how long will you keep testing us like this, ordering for a third time now that they be annihilated, only to change your mind and revoke your decrees when the matter is at hand?”
41Because of this, the city is in turmoil with expectation, and now, teeming with mobs, it is often in danger of being plundered.
42At this, the king, a Phalaris in every way, was filled with irrationality. He considered the changes of heart happening within him concerning the Jews as nothing, and swore a most unholy oath that he would send them to Hades without delay, tortured by the knees and feet of the beasts,
43and that he would march against Judea and quickly level it with fire and spear, and that he would promptly burn down their temple—which is off-limits to us—and make it forever desolate of those who offer sacrifices there.
44Then his friends and kinsmen, overjoyed and confident, departed and began to station forces in the most strategic places in the city to keep watch.
45The master of the elephants brought the beasts to a frenzied state with very fragrant drafts of wine mixed with frankincense, and adorned them with terrifying equipment.
46Then, around dawn, when the city was already packed with countless crowds at the hippodrome, he entered the court and urged the king on to the task at hand.
47But the king, having filled his impious mind with heavy wrath, rushed out with his full force and with the beasts, wanting to witness with an unpitying heart and with his own eyes the painful and miserable destruction of those who had been marked for death.
48When the Jews saw the dust cloud from the elephants going out through the gate, from the armed force that followed, and from the procession of the crowd, and heard the deafening roar,
49they thought this was the last moment of their lives and the end of their most wretched expectation. Turning to lamentation and wailing, they began to kiss one another, embracing their relatives and falling on each other’s necks—parents on children, mothers on daughters. Still others held newborn infants to their breasts, who were drawing their last milk.
50But then, calling to mind the help from heaven that had come to them before, they threw themselves down prostrate with one accord, even taking the infants from their breasts,
51and cried out with a very loud voice, imploring the Ruler of all to show pity and manifest himself to them, as they now stood at the gates of Hades.
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