6:30 So that the number of his army was an hundred thousand footmen,
and twenty thousand horsemen, and two and thirty elephants exercised in
battle.
6:31 These went through Idumea, and pitched against Bethsura, which
they assaulted many days, making engines of war; but they of Bethsura
came out, and burned them with fire, and fought valiantly.
6:32 Upon this Judas removed from the tower, and pitched in
Bathzacharias, over against the king’s camp.
6:33 Then the king rising very early marched fiercely with his host
toward Bathzacharias, where his armies made them ready to battle, and
sounded the trumpets.
6:34 And to the end they might provoke the elephants to fight, they
shewed them the blood of grapes and mulberries.
6:35 Moreover they divided the beasts among the armies, and for every
elephant they appointed a thousand men, armed with coats of mail, and
with helmets of brass on their heads; and beside this, for every beast
were ordained five hundred horsemen of the best.
6:36 These were ready at every occasion: wheresoever the beast was, and
whithersoever the beast went, they went also, neither departed they
from him.
6:37 And upon the beasts were there strong towers of wood, which
covered every one of them, and were girt fast unto them with devices:
there were also upon every one two and thirty strong men, that fought
upon them, beside the Indian that ruled him.
6:38 As for the remnant of the horsemen, they set them on this side and
that side at the two parts of the host giving them signs what to do,
and being harnessed all over amidst the ranks.
6:39 Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the
mountains glistered therewith, and shined like lamps of fire.
6:40 So part of the king’s army being spread upon the high mountains,
and part on the valleys below, they marched on safely and in order.
6:41 Wherefore all that heard the noise of their multitude, and the
marching of the company, and the rattling of the harness, were moved:
for the army was very great and mighty.
6:42 Then Judas and his host drew near, and entered into battle, and
there were slain of the king’s army six hundred men.
6:43 Eleazar also, surnamed Savaran, perceiving that one of the beasts,
armed with royal harness, was higher than all the rest, and supposing
that the king was upon him,
6:44 Put himself in jeopardy, to the end he might deliver his people,
and get him a perpetual name:
6:45 Wherefore he ran upon him courageously through the midst of the
battle, slaying on the right hand and on the left, so that they were
divided from him on both sides.
6:46 Which done, he crept under the elephant, and thrust him under, and
slew him: whereupon the elephant fell down upon him, and there he died.
6:47 Howbeit the rest of the Jews seeing the strength of the king, and
the violence of his forces, turned away from them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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