3 Maccabees 5:47-49

Common English Bible

⁴⁷ So the king, filled with rage, rushed out with all fierceness to join the beasts. He wanted to witness with steely heart and with his own eyes the painful and miserable destruction of the previously mentioned people. ⁴⁸ The Jews saw the dust cloud created by the elephants going out at the gate, the armed force following them, and the marching of the crowd, and they heard the noisy ruckus. ⁴⁹ Thinking that this was their final moment of life, the fulfillment of their most wretched fear, they gave themselves over to pitiful wailing and weeping. They began to kiss each other, embracing their families and throwing themselves upon each other’s shoulders, parents to children and mothers to daughters. Other women had their newborn infants at their breasts drawing their last milk.