The Koine Bible

Then, having summoned Hermon, the one in charge of the elephants, filled with heavy anger and rage, unyielding in every way,

He ordered that under the coming day all the elephants, being five hundred in number, be given drink with abundant draughts of frankincense and with a greater quantity of unmixed wine, and, having been made savage by the plentiful supply of the drink, to be brought in to meet the destruction of the Jews.

So the one giving such orders turned to feasting, having gathered the ones most of all among his friends and the army who were disposed with hostility toward the Jews

And the elephant commander, Hermon, was carrying out the thing ordered in due order.

And in addition to these, the attendants, going out at evening, bound the hands of those who were being afflicted, and they devised the remaining night-long security around them, thinking that the race would all at once receive the end of destruction.

But the Jews, seeming to the nations to be destitute of every protection because of the necessity surrounding them on every side with bonds,

the Lord Almighty and master of all power, their merciful God and Father, they all called upon with an unceasing cry, begging with tears

to turn back the impious plan against them and to rescue them with a noble manifestation from the death that was close at hand at their feet

So then the supplication of these was going up earnestly to heaven

But Hermon, having given the merciless elephants a drink, when they were filled with the abundant supply of wine and filled with frankincense, was present early in the morning in the court to report these things to the king.

And the beautiful creature from ancient time, laid upon in night and day by the one who grants to all to whom he himself may wish a portion of sleep, he sent to the king.

and he was held down in the sweetest and deep working of the master, greatly shattered in his lawless purpose and greatly deceived in his unchangeable reasoning

And the Jews, escaping the appointed hour, were praising their holy God and again were entreating him, who is easily reconciled, to show to the arrogant nations the power of his mighty hand.

And now, when the tenth hour was already half past, the one appointed over the summonses, seeing the summoned men in crowds, approached and roused the king.

And scarcely having roused him, he indicated that the time of the banquet was already passing by, making a speech about these things.

whom the king, having taken into account and turned to drinking, ordered those who had come to the banquet to recline opposite him

And when this too had happened, he urged them to a feast, that, giving themselves over to the present enjoyment of the banquet, they should lay aside for a long time a part for merriment into gladness.

But as the conversation was advancing further, the king summoned Hermon and was inquiring with a bitter threat for what cause the Jews had been allowed to survive the remaining day through life.

And of the one who indicated that even by night the command had been brought to completion, and of the friends who had borne witness with him,

Having taken up a cruelty worse than Phalaris, he said that he held them grateful for today’s sleep, but for the day that was coming without delay, prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews

And when the king had spoken, all who were present gladly, with joy, agreeing together, each returned to his own house.

And they did not so much spend the time of the night in sleep as in devising all kinds of mockeries for the wretches who seemed to them to be helpless.

And just then the rooster had crowed at daybreak, and Hermon, fully armed with the beasts, was moving about in the large colonnade.

And the multitudes in the city had gathered together for the most pitiable spectacle, expecting the morning with eagerness

But the Jews, being led on through the unbroken time, stretching out a very tearful supplication in mournful strains, their hands to heaven, were begging the Most High God to help them again quickly

But the sun’s rays had not yet been scattered, and while the king was awaiting his friends, Hermon, standing by, was calling them to the departure, showing that the eagerness of the king lay ready at hand.

But when he had accepted and been struck with fear at the unlawful departure, being held fast by complete ignorance, he was asking what the matter was, on account of which this had been done to him with urgency.

And this was the working of the God who rules over all, who had put into their mind a forgetfulness of the things previously devised by them

Hermon and all the friends showed that the beasts and the forces had been prepared, O king, according to your earnest purpose

But he, being filled with heavy anger at the things said, because all his purpose concerning these things had been scattered by the providence of God, gazed steadfastly with threat and said

As many as were parents present, or offspring of children, I would have prepared this for wild beasts as a plentiful feast, instead of the blameless complete and sure faith shown to me and to my ancestors, especially of the Jews.

although, if not because of the affection of companionship and the need for life, you were deprived of these things in place of them

Thus Hermon endured an unexpected and dangerous threat, and in both appearance and face he was contracted.

But each of the friends, withdrawing gloomily, dismissed the assembled people each to his own occupation

And the Jews, having heard the things from the king, praised the manifest God, Lord, King of kings, and having obtained this help from him

Then the king, having composed the whole banquet according to the same laws, was urging it to turn to rejoicing.

But having summoned Hermon, with a threat he said, How many times must I command you concerning these very matters, most wretched man?

Arm the elephants still even now for tomorrow against the destruction of the Jews.

But the relatives who were dining with him, marveling at his unstable mind, said these things:

O king, how long will you test us as though we were irrational, commanding now a third time to destroy them, and again, in the affairs, undoing by change the things decided by you?

for which reason the city, because of the expectation, is troubled and, multiplying in gatherings, already also often risks to be plundered

Wherefore King Phalaris, being in every way filled with senselessness and counting the changes of mind that were taking place in him toward the oversight of the Jews as nothing, having certainly set down a most complete oath, that he would without delay send these men to Hades, outraged at the knees and feet of beasts

and when he had marched against Judea, to make it level by fire and spear quickly, and to make their inviolable temple for us flat to the ground by fire at once, and of those who carry out sacrifices there to set it desolate for all time

Then the friends and relatives, being overjoyed, having departed, with confidence arranged the forces at the most suitable places of the city for the guarding

But the elephant commander, having driven the beasts almost, so to speak, into a raging frenzy, with the most fragrant drinks of wine mixed with frankincense, fearfully adorned with equipment,

about dawn of the city already having been filled up with countless multitudes along the racetrack, having entered into the courtyard, he urged the king regarding the matter laid before him

But he, having filled his ungodly mind with heavy anger, with all his force rushed out with the beasts, wishing with uninjured heart and eyes of his sight to behold the painful and wretched destruction of those who had been marked out beforehand.

But when the elephants were going out around the gate, and they saw the dust of the armed force following along and the thunderous noise of the multitude’s march, the Jews,

thinking their last moment of life was for them the end of the most wretched expectation, they turned to pity and lamentation and were kissing one another, embracing their relatives, falling upon the necks of children, and parents upon daughters, and mothers upon young women, while others, having newborn infants to their breasts, were at last drawing milk from the infants' breasts

Nevertheless, when they saw the help from heaven that had previously taken place in front of them, they all together threw themselves prone, and separating the infants from the breasts

they cried out with a very loud voice, imploring the ruler of all power to pity them with manifestation, now set at the gates of Hades