12
By the Lord's doing, the king was overcome by a most pleasant and deep sleep, such that he utterly failed in his unlawful purpose and was completely cheated out of his stubborn plan.
10
Now when Hermon had made the savage elephants drunk so that they were full of a great quantity of wine and drugged with frankincense, he came to the palace courtyard early in the morning to report to the king.
11
But God sent to the king a portion of sleep, the precious creation from before recorded time, granted night and day by the one who gives it generously to whomever he wishes.
12
By the Lord's doing, the king was overcome by a most pleasant and deep sleep, such that he utterly failed in his unlawful purpose and was completely cheated out of his stubborn plan.
13
And the Jews, having escaped the announced hour, praised their holy God and again prayed that the one who is quickly reconciled to his people would show the might of his exceedingly strong hand to the arrogant Gentiles.
14
When it was almost the middle of the tenth hour, the person in charge of the invitations, seeing that the guests were gathered, approached the king and nudged him
Footnotes 1
[a].
Some manuscripts read deep sleep from evening until the ninth hour.