17. When this had been done, he urged the guests to give themselves over to feasting and to make up for the lost time by celebrating all the more now.
18. After the party had been going on for some time, the king called Hermon in and asked him, with angry threats, why the Jews had been permitted to remain alive through the present day.
19. But Hermon pointed out that he had fully carried out the orders at night, and his friends confirmed his story.
20. So the king, with a savagery worse than the tyrant Phalaris, said that the Jews could be grateful for today’s sleep, but "Tomorrow," he said, "without delay, prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the unseemly Jews."
21. So the king spoke, and when all those present gave their unanimous approval readily and joyfully, they all departed for their own homes.
22. But they didn’t spend their night sleeping so much as devising all kinds of insults for those who seemed to be doomed.
23. By dawn, when the roosters began to crow, Hermon had outfitted the beasts and started them moving along in the great colonnade.
24. Crowds of people from throughout the city gathered for the most sorry spectacle and were eagerly awaiting the early morning.
25. The Jews were at their last gasp, since time was short. With tearful prayer and mournful sounds, they stretched out their hands to heaven and begged the supreme God to help them again quickly.
26. Before the rays of the sun were scattered across the sky, while the king was receiving his friends, Hermon approached him and invited him to come out, indicating that the king’s desire was ready to be put into action.
27. When he heard this, the king was surprised at the unusual invitation to come out from the palace. He was completely overcome by confusion, and he asked what it was that they had worked so hard to prepare for him.
28. Now this was God’s doing, the God who is Lord over all things, who had placed in the king’s mind forgetfulness of the schemes that he had previously devised.
29. Hermon and all the king’s friends pointed out, "The beasts and the forces have been prepared, Your Majesty, according to your careful plan."