3 Maccabees 5:18-20

Revised Standard Version

¹⁸ After the party had been going on for some time, the king summoned Hermon and with sharp threats demanded to know why the Jews had been allowed to remain alive through the present day. ¹⁹ But when he, with the corroboration of his friends, pointed out that while it was still night he had carried out completely the order given him, ²⁰ the king,^[a] possessed by a savagery worse than that of Phalaris, said that the Jews^[b] were benefited by today’s sleep, “but,” he added, “tomorrow without delay prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews!”