3
When he had given these orders he returned to his feasting, together with those of his friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews.
1
Then the king, completely inflexible, was filled with overpowering anger and wrath; so he summoned Hermon, keeper of the elephants,
2
and ordered him on the following day to drug all the elephants -- five hundred in number -- with large handfuls of frankincense and plenty of unmixed wine, and to drive them in, maddened by the lavish abundance of liquor, so that the Jews might meet their doom.
3
When he had given these orders he returned to his feasting, together with those of his friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews.
4
And Hermon, keeper of the elephants, proceeded faithfully to carry out the orders.
5
The servants in charge of the Jews went out in the evening and bound the hands of the wretched people and arranged for their continued custody through the night, convinced that the whole nation would experience its final destruction.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.