3 Maccabees 5

1Then, summoning Hermon, who was in charge of the elephants, being filled with grievous anger and wrath altogether unchangeable,

2He ordered that, by the coming day, all the elephants—five hundred in number—be given drink with generous draughts of frankincense and much unmixed wine, and that, once made savage by the abundant supply of drink, they be brought in for the destruction of the Jews.

3So the one who had been given these orders turned to feasting, gathering those of his friends and of the army who were most hostile toward the Jews.

4And Hermon, the elephant-master, carried out the order exactly.

5And in addition, the attendants, going out at evening, bound the hands of those who were suffering, and contrived the rest of the nighttime security concerning them, thinking that they would together bring the race to the end of destruction.

6But the Jews, seeming to the nations to be deprived of every protection because of the necessity that surrounded them on every side with chains,

7They all called upon the almighty Lord, the sovereign over every dominion, their merciful God and Father, with tears and with an unceasing cry, begging him,

8to turn back the unholy plan against them, and to rescue them with a magnificent manifestation from the death ready at their feet.

9So then their earnest supplication was ascending to heaven continually.

10But Hermon, after giving the savage elephants drink, with them filled from the abundant supply of wine and saturated with frankincense, came early in the morning to the court to report these things to the king.

11But the age-old ordinance of time, beautifully alternating in night and day by the One who grants sleep to all, to whomever he himself wills, sent a portion of sleep upon the king;

12And by the action of the Sovereign he was overcome with a most pleasant and deep stupor, having been greatly frustrated in his lawless purpose and utterly disappointed in his unchangeable resolve.

13And the Jews, having escaped the appointed hour, again were imploring their holy God to show to the proud nations, in magnificent generosity, the might of his hand.

14And when it was already nearly the middle of the sixth hour, the man appointed over the summonses, seeing those who had been summoned assembled in a mass, came up and signaled to the king.

15And after barely rousing himself, he pointed out that the time for the banquet was already slipping by, making his speech about these matters.

16When the king considered this, and turned to drinking, he ordered those who had come to the banquet to recline around him.

17And when this had happened, he urged them, having given themselves over to feasting, to devote the present occasion of the banquet, long honored, to gladness.

18But as the conversation kept dragging on, the king summoned Hermon and, with a bitter threat, asked for what reason the Jews had been spared, having survived beyond the appointed day.

19But when the one who had pointed out that during the night the order had been carried through to completion, and their friends had borne witness to it,

20Having a savagery worse than Phalaris, he said that they should be thankful to sleep today; but, once they had been kept alive until the coming day, prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews.

21And when the king had spoken, all who were present gladly agreed together with joy, and each departed to his own house.

22And they did not spend the time of the night so much in sleep as in devising every kind of mockery for those who seemed miserable.

23But just then, when the rooster had crowed at dawn, Hermon, having armed the beasts, was driving them on in the great colonnade.

24And the crowds throughout the city were gathering for the most pitiful spectacle, eagerly awaiting the morning.

25But the Jews, as the indivisible time drew them together in soul, stretched out their hands to heaven and, with mournful songs, offered a tearful plea, begging the greatest God to help them again without delay.

26But the sun’s rays had not yet spread out, and while the king was receiving his friends, Hermon came forward and summoned them to the departure, pointing out that the king’s eagerness was in readiness.

27But when he had accepted it and was struck with astonishment at the lawless outcome, being in every way overcome by ignorance, he kept asking whether what had been decreed had indeed been carried out for him with urgency.

28But this was the working of God, who rules over all, having implanted in the minds of those who had previously plotted against them a forgetfulness of their purpose.

29Hermon was showing them the beasts and all the forces: “They are prepared, O king, according to that intention of yours.”

30But he, filled with heavy anger at what had been said, because all his purpose concerning these things had been frustrated by the providence of God, spoke with threats, pressing the matter hard:

31All the parents who were present, and the children with them, have prepared this lavish feast for the wild beasts, instead of the Jews, who have been shown to me and to my forefathers to possess complete and steadfast faithfulness beyond reproach.

32Yet, if it were not for your affection because of the gathering together and the necessity, you would have been deprived of life instead of these things.

33Thus Hermon endured an unexpected and dangerous threat, and he was shaken in appearance and countenance.

34But each of the friends, looking grim, dismissed those who had gathered, each one to his own occupation.

35And the Jews, when they heard what came from the king, were praising the manifest God, the Lord, the King of kings, since they had obtained this help from him.

36Then the king, having arranged the whole banquet according to the same rules, urged them to turn to rejoicing.

37Then, summoning Hermon with a threat, he said, “How many times must I command you about these very matters, you most wretched man?”

38Arm the elephants even now for tomorrow, for the destruction of the Jews.

39But the relatives who were reclining with him, marveling at his unstable state of mind, kept saying these things:

40O king, how long will you keep testing us, now commanding for the third time that they be destroyed, and then again, in the matter at hand, reversing by a change of mind the decisions you have made?

41For this reason the city is in turmoil because of the expectation, and as it grows with crowds, it is already in danger of being plundered many times.

42Therefore the king, a Phalaris in every way, filled with irrationality and counting as nothing the changes of soul occurring within him for oversight of the Jews, firmly setting an utterly unfulfillable oath, that he would without delay send these men to Hades, cruelly mangled in the knees and feet by beasts,

43But if he should campaign against Judea, he would quickly make it level with fire and spear, and after burning their sanctuary—untrodden by us—with fire, he would put a stop forever to those who perform sacrifice there.

44Then the friends and relatives, overjoyed, having regained confidence, stationed the forces in the most suitable places of the city for guard duty.

45But the elephant-master, after bringing the beasts almost—as he had said—into a frenzied state by very fragrant drinks, with wine mixed with frankincense, and making them terrifyingly adorned with equipment,

46Around dawn, when the city was already filled with innumerable crowds at the hippodrome, he entered the court and urged the king on concerning the matter at hand.

47But he, filled with heavy wrath and impious in mind, rushed out with all his force along with the beasts, wanting with unfeeling heart and with the pupils of his eyes to look upon the painful and miserable destruction of those who had been marked out.

48But when the Jews saw the elephants coming out to the gate, and the dust from the advancing armed force and from the movement of the crowd, and heard a loud tumult,

49Considering that moment to be for them the final turn of life, the end of their most miserable expectation, they turned to pity and lamentation and kept kissing one another, embracing their relatives, falling upon their necks—parents upon children and mothers upon young daughters; and others, holding infant babies to their breasts, were drawing out their last milk.

50Yet nevertheless, when they also saw the help from heaven that had come to them before, they all together threw themselves down face-first, and separated the infants from the breasts,

51They cried out very loudly, imploring the Sovereign of all to have mercy and visibly come to their aid, since they already stood at the gates of Hades.