26
The rays of the sun were not yet shed abroad, and while the king was receiving his friends, Hermon arrived and invited him to come out, indicating that what the king desired was ready for action.
27
But he, upon 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 beasts 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 in regard to these matters; and with a threatening look he said,
31
"Were your parents or children present, I would have prepared them to be a rich feast for the savage beasts 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.
32
In fact you would have been deprived of life instead of these, were it not for an affection arising from our nurture in common and your usefulness."
33
So Hermon suffered an unexpected and dangerous threat, and his eyes wavered and his face fell.
34
The king's friends one by one sullenly slipped away and dismissed the assembled people, each to his own occupation.
35
Then the Jews, upon hearing what the king had said, praised the manifest Lord God, King of kings, since this also was his aid which they had received.
36
The king, however, reconvened the party in the same manner and urged the guests to return to their celebrating.