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.
6
For to the Gentiles it appeared that the Jews were left without any aid,
7
because in their bonds they were forcibly confined on every side. But with tears and a voice hard to silence they all called upon the Almighty Lord and Ruler of all power, their merciful God and Father, praying
8
that he avert with vengeance the evil plot against them and in a glorious manifestation rescue them from the fate now prepared for them.
9
So their entreaty ascended fervently to heaven.
10
Hermon, however, when he had drugged the pitiless elephants until they had been filled with a great abundance of wine and satiated with frankincense, presented himself at the courtyard early in the morning to report to the king about these preparations.
11
But the Lord sent upon the king a portion of sleep, that beneficence which from the beginning, night and day, is bestowed by him who grants it to whomever he wishes.