3 Maccabees 5:29

29 Then Hermon and all the king's Friends pointed out that the animals and the armed forces were ready, "O king, according to your eager purpose."

3 Maccabees 5:29 In-Context

27 But he, on receiving the report and being struck by the unusual invitation to come out—since he had been completely overcome by incomprehension—inquired what the matter was for which this had been so zealously completed for him.

28 This was the act of God who rules over all things, for he had implanted in the king's mind a forgetfulness of the things he had previously devised.

29 Then Hermon and all the king's Friends pointed out that the animals and the armed forces were ready, "O king, according to your eager purpose."

30 But at these words he was filled with an overpowering wrath, because by the providence of God his whole mind had been deranged concerning these matters; and with a threatening look he said,

31 "If your parents or children were present, I would have prepared them to be a rich feast for the savage animals instead of the Jews, who give me no ground for complaint and have exhibited to an extraordinary degree a full and firm loyalty to my ancestors.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gk [all the Friends]
• [b]. Other ancient authorities read [pointed to the beasts and the armed forces, saying, "They are ready, O king, according to your eager purpose."]