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Early World
Patriarchs
Egypt and Exodus
Desert Wanderings
Conquest and Judges
Royal Kingdom
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Royal Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
Exile
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Maccabean Revolt
Wisdom & Poetry
Exile
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Day 153 of 365

about 21 minutes

2 Maccabees 5-7

2 Maccabees Chapter 5

¹Now about this time Antiochus made his second invasion into Egypt. ²It happened that throughout all the city, for almost forty days, cavalry appeared in the midst of the sky in swift motion, wearing robes woven with gold and carrying spears, equipped with troops for battle— ³drawing swords, squadrons of cavalry in array, encounters and pursuits of both armies, shaking shields, multitudes of lances, throwing of missiles, flashing of golden trappings, and putting on all sorts of armor. ⁴Therefore everyone prayed that the manifestation might have been given for good. ⁵When a false rumor had arisen that Antiochus was dead, Jason took not less than a thousand men, and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When those who were on the wall were being routed, and the city was at length nearly taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel. ⁶But Jason slaughtered his own citizens without mercy, not considering that good success against kinsmen is the greatest misfortune, but supposing himself to be setting up trophies over enemies, and not over fellow countrymen. ⁷He didn’t win control of the government, but receiving shame as the result of his conspiracy, he fled again as a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites. ⁸At last therefore he met with a miserable end. Having been imprisoned at the court of Aretas the prince of the Arabians, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt. ⁹He who had driven many from their own country into exile perished in exile, having crossed the sea to the Lacedaemonians, hoping to find shelter there because they were near of kin. ¹⁰He who had thrown out a multitude unburied had none to mourn for him. He didn’t have any funeral at all and no place in the tomb of his ancestors. ¹¹Now when news came to the king concerning that which was done, he thought that Judea was in revolt. So, setting out from Egypt in a rage, he took the city by force of weapons, ¹²and commanded his soldiers to cut down without mercy those who came in their way, and to kill those who went into their houses. ¹³Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaying of virgins and infants. ¹⁴In a total of three days, eighty thousand were destroyed, of which forty thousand were slain in close combat, and no fewer were sold into slavery than slain. ¹⁵Not content with this, he presumed to enter into the most holy temple of all the earth, having Menelaus for his guide (who had proved himself a traitor both to the laws and to his country), ¹⁶even taking the sacred vessels with his polluted hands, and dragging down with his profane hands the offerings that had been dedicated by other kings to enhance the glory and honor of the place. ¹⁷Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not seeing that because of the sins of those who lived in the city the Sovereign Lord had been provoked to anger a little while, and therefore his eye was turned away from the place. ¹⁸But had it not been so that they were already bound by many sins, this man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by King Seleucus to view the treasury, would, as soon as he came forward, have been scourged and turned back from his daring deed. ¹⁹However the Lord didn’t choose the nation for the place’s sake, but the place for the nation’s sake. ²⁰Therefore also the place itself, having shared in the calamities that happened to the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory. ²¹As for Antiochus, when he had carried away out of the temple one thousand eight hundred talents, he hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on land and walk on the sea, because his heart was lifted up. ²²Moreover he left governors to afflict the race: at Jerusalem, Philip, by race a Phrygian, and in character more barbarous than him who set him there; ²³and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who worse than all the rest, exalted himself against his fellow citizens. Having a malicious mind toward the Jews whom he had made his citizens, ²⁴he sent that lord of pollutions Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, commanding him to kill all those who were of full age, and to sell the women and the boys as slaves. ²⁵He came to Jerusalem, and pretending to be a man of peace, waited till the holy day of the Sabbath, and finding the Jews at rest from work, he commanded his men to parade fully armed. ²⁶He put to the sword all those who came out to the spectacle. Running into the city with the armed men, he killed great multitudes. ²⁷But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, with about nine others, withdrew himself, and with his company kept himself alive in the mountains like wild animals do. They continued feeding on what grew wild, that they might not be partakers of the defilement.

1: Now about this time Antiochus made his second invasion into Egypt.

2: It happened that throughout all the city, for almost forty days, cavalry appeared in the midst of the sky in swift motion, wearing robes woven with gold and carrying spears, equipped with troops for battle—

3: drawing swords, squadrons of cavalry in array, encounters and pursuits of both armies, shaking shields, multitudes of lances, throwing of missiles, flashing of golden trappings, and putting on all sorts of armor.

4: Therefore everyone prayed that the manifestation might have been given for good.

5: When a false rumor had arisen that Antiochus was dead, Jason took not less than a thousand men, and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When those who were on the wall were being routed, and the city was at length nearly taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.

6: But Jason slaughtered his own citizens without mercy, not considering that good success against kinsmen is the greatest misfortune, but supposing himself to be setting up trophies over enemies, and not over fellow countrymen.

7: He didn’t win control of the government, but receiving shame as the result of his conspiracy, he fled again as a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites.

8: At last therefore he met with a miserable end. Having been imprisoned at the court of Aretas the prince of the Arabians, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt.

9: He who had driven many from their own country into exile perished in exile, having crossed the sea to the Lacedaemonians, hoping to find shelter there because they were near of kin.

10: He who had thrown out a multitude unburied had none to mourn for him. He didn’t have any funeral at all and no place in the tomb of his ancestors.

11: Now when news came to the king concerning that which was done, he thought that Judea was in revolt. So, setting out from Egypt in a rage, he took the city by force of weapons,

12: and commanded his soldiers to cut down without mercy those who came in their way, and to kill those who went into their houses.

13: Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaying of virgins and infants.

14: In a total of three days, eighty thousand were destroyed, of which forty thousand were slain in close combat, and no fewer were sold into slavery than slain.

15: Not content with this, he presumed to enter into the most holy temple of all the earth, having Menelaus for his guide (who had proved himself a traitor both to the laws and to his country),

16: even taking the sacred vessels with his polluted hands, and dragging down with his profane hands the offerings that had been dedicated by other kings to enhance the glory and honor of the place.

17: Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not seeing that because of the sins of those who lived in the city the Sovereign Lord had been provoked to anger a little while, and therefore his eye was turned away from the place.

18: But had it not been so that they were already bound by many sins, this man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by King Seleucus to view the treasury, would, as soon as he came forward, have been scourged and turned back from his daring deed.

19: However the Lord didn’t choose the nation for the place’s sake, but the place for the nation’s sake.

20: Therefore also the place itself, having shared in the calamities that happened to the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory.

21: As for Antiochus, when he had carried away out of the temple one thousand eight hundred talents, he hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on land and walk on the sea, because his heart was lifted up.

22: Moreover he left governors to afflict the race: at Jerusalem, Philip, by race a Phrygian, and in character more barbarous than him who set him there;

23: and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who worse than all the rest, exalted himself against his fellow citizens. Having a malicious mind toward the Jews whom he had made his citizens,

24: he sent that lord of pollutions Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, commanding him to kill all those who were of full age, and to sell the women and the boys as slaves.

25: He came to Jerusalem, and pretending to be a man of peace, waited till the holy day of the Sabbath, and finding the Jews at rest from work, he commanded his men to parade fully armed.

26: He put to the sword all those who came out to the spectacle. Running into the city with the armed men, he killed great multitudes.

27: But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, with about nine others, withdrew himself, and with his company kept himself alive in the mountains like wild animals do. They continued feeding on what grew wild, that they might not be partakers of the defilement.

2 Maccabees Chapter 6

¹Not long after this, the king sent out an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God, ²and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Olympian Zeus, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Zeus the Protector of foreigners, even as the people who lived in that place did. ³The visitation of this evil was harsh and utterly grievous. ⁴For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the heathen, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and moreover brought inside things that were not appropriate. ⁵The altar was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws. ⁶A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of their ancestors, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew. ⁷On the day of the king’s birth every month, they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices. When the feast of Dionysia came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy. ⁸A decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the sacrifices, ⁹and that they should kill those who didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see. ¹⁰For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These, when they had led them publicly around the city with the babes hung from their breasts, they threw down headlong from the wall. ¹¹Others who had run together into the caves nearby to keep the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of the honor of that most solemn day. ¹²I urge those who read this book to not be discouraged because of the calamities, but recognize that these punishments were not for the destruction, but for the chastening of our race. ¹³For indeed it is a sign of great kindness that those who act impiously are not let alone for a long time, but immediately meet with retribution. ¹⁴For in the case of the other nations, the Sovereign Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have attained to the full measure of their sins; but not with us, ¹⁵that he may not take vengeance on us afterward, when we have come to the height of our sins. ¹⁶Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but though he chastens with calamity, he doesn’t forsake his own people. ¹⁷However let this that we have spoken suffice to remind you; but after a few words, we must come to the narrative. ¹⁸Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well advanced in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh. ¹⁹But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with defilement, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat out the flesh, ²⁰as men ought to come who are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste. ²¹But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was proper for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king; ²²that by so doing he might be delivered from death, and so his ancient friendship with them might be treated kindly. ²³But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them to quickly send him to Hades. ²⁴“For it doesn’t become our years to dissemble,” he said, “that many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of ninety years, had gone over to an alien religion; ²⁵and so they, by reason of my deception, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, would be led astray because of me, and I defile and disgrace myself in my old age. ²⁶For even if for the present time I would remove from me the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I wouldn’t escape the hands of the Almighty. ²⁷Therefore, by bravely parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age, ²⁸and leave behind a noble example to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the revered and holy laws.” When he had said these words, he went immediately to the instrument of torture. ²⁹When they changed the good will they bore toward him a little before into ill will because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness, ³⁰and when he was at the point to die with the blows, he groaned aloud and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, while I might have been delivered from death, I endure severe pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of him.” ³¹So this man also died like this, leaving his death for an example of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.

1: Not long after this, the king sent out an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God,

2: and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Olympian Zeus, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Zeus the Protector of foreigners, even as the people who lived in that place did.

3: The visitation of this evil was harsh and utterly grievous.

4: For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the heathen, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and moreover brought inside things that were not appropriate.

5: The altar was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws.

6: A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of their ancestors, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew.

7: On the day of the king’s birth every month, they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices. When the feast of Dionysia came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy.

8: A decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the sacrifices,

9: and that they should kill those who didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see.

10: For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These, when they had led them publicly around the city with the babes hung from their breasts, they threw down headlong from the wall.

11: Others who had run together into the caves nearby to keep the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of the honor of that most solemn day.

12: I urge those who read this book to not be discouraged because of the calamities, but recognize that these punishments were not for the destruction, but for the chastening of our race.

13: For indeed it is a sign of great kindness that those who act impiously are not let alone for a long time, but immediately meet with retribution.

14: For in the case of the other nations, the Sovereign Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have attained to the full measure of their sins; but not with us,

15: that he may not take vengeance on us afterward, when we have come to the height of our sins.

16: Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but though he chastens with calamity, he doesn’t forsake his own people.

17: However let this that we have spoken suffice to remind you; but after a few words, we must come to the narrative.

18: Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well advanced in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.

19: But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with defilement, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat out the flesh,

20: as men ought to come who are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.

21: But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was proper for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king;

22: that by so doing he might be delivered from death, and so his ancient friendship with them might be treated kindly.

23: But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them to quickly send him to Hades.

24: “For it doesn’t become our years to dissemble,” he said, “that many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of ninety years, had gone over to an alien religion;

25: and so they, by reason of my deception, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, would be led astray because of me, and I defile and disgrace myself in my old age.

26: For even if for the present time I would remove from me the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I wouldn’t escape the hands of the Almighty.

27: Therefore, by bravely parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,

28: and leave behind a noble example to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the revered and holy laws.” When he had said these words, he went immediately to the instrument of torture.

29: When they changed the good will they bore toward him a little before into ill will because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness,

30: and when he was at the point to die with the blows, he groaned aloud and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, while I might have been delivered from death, I endure severe pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of him.”

31: So this man also died like this, leaving his death for an example of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.

2 Maccabees Chapter 7

¹It came to pass that seven brothers and their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh. ²One of them made himself the spokesman and said, “What would you ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” ³The king fell into a rage, and commanded that pans and caldrons be heated. ⁴When these were immediately heated, he gave orders to cut out the tongue of him who had been their spokesman, and to scalp him, and to cut off his extremities, with the rest of his brothers and his mother looking on. ⁵And when he was utterly maimed, the king gave orders to bring him to the fire, being yet alive, and to fry him in the pan. And as the smoke from the pan spread far, they and their mother also exhorted one another to die nobly, saying this: ⁶“The Lord God sees, and in truth is entreated for us, as Moses declared in his song, which witnesses against the people to their faces, saying, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.’ ” ⁷And when the first had died like this, they brought the second to the mocking; and they pulled off the skin of his head with the hair and asked him, “Will you eat, before your body is punished in every limb?” ⁸But he answered in the language of his ancestors and said to them, “No.” Therefore he also underwent the next torture in succession, as the first had done. ⁹When he was at the last gasp, he said, “You, miscreant, release us out of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us who have died for his laws up to an everlasting renewal of life.” ¹⁰After him, the third was made a victim of their mocking. When he was required, he quickly put out his tongue, and stretched out his hands courageously, ¹¹and nobly said, “I got these from heaven. For his laws’ sake I treat these with contempt. From him, I hope to receive these back again.” ¹²As a result, the king himself and those who were with him were astonished at the young man’s soul, for he regarded the pains as nothing. ¹³When he too was dead, they shamefully handled and tortured the fourth in the same way. ¹⁴Being near to death he said this: “It is good to die at the hands of men and look for the hope which is given by God, that we will be raised up again by him. For as for you, you will have no resurrection to life.” ¹⁵Next after him, they brought the fifth and shamefully handled him. ¹⁶But he looked toward the king and said, “Because you have authority among men, though you are corruptible, you do what you please. But don’t think that our race has been forsaken by God. ¹⁷But hold on to your ways, and see how his sovereign majesty will torture you and your descendants!” ¹⁸After him they brought the sixth. When he was about to die, he said, “Don’t be vainly deceived, for we suffer these things for our own doings, as sinning against our own God. Astounding things have come to pass; ¹⁹but don’t think that you will be unpunished, having tried to fight against God!” ²⁰But above all, the mother was marvelous and worthy of honorable memory; for when she watched seven sons perishing within the space of one day, she bore the sight with a good courage because of her hope in the Lord. ²¹She exhorted each one of them in the language of their fathers, filled with a noble spirit and stirring up her woman’s thoughts with manly courage, saying to them, ²²“I don’t know how you came into my womb. It wasn’t I who gave you your spirit and your life. It wasn’t I who brought into order the first elements of each one of you. ²³Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the first origin of man and devised the first origin of all things, in mercy gives back to you again both your spirit and your life, as you now treat yourselves with contempt for his laws’ sake.” ²⁴But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive didn’t only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and raise him to high honor if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs. ²⁵But when the young man would in no way listen, the king called to him his mother, and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. ²⁶When he had urged her with many words, she undertook to persuade her son. ²⁷But bending toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, she spoke this in the language of her fathers: “My son, have pity upon me who carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you three years, and nourished and brought you up to this age, and sustained you. ²⁸I beg you, my child, to lift your eyes to the sky and the earth, and to see all things that are in it, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were, and that the race of men in this way comes into being. ²⁹Don’t be afraid of this butcher, but, proving yourself worthy of your brothers, accept your death, that in God’s mercy I may receive you again with your brothers.” ³⁰But before she had finished speaking, the young man said, “What are you all waiting for? I don’t obey the commandment of the king, but I listen to the commandment of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. ³¹But you, who have devised all kinds of evil against the Hebrews, will in no way escape God’s hands. ³²For we are suffering because of our own sins. ³³If for rebuke and chastening, our living Lord has been angered a little while, yet he will again be reconciled with his own servants. ³⁴But you, O unholy man and of all most vile, don’t be vainly lifted up in your wild pride with uncertain hopes, raising your hand against the heavenly children. ³⁵For you have not yet escaped the judgment of the Almighty God who sees all things. ³⁶For these our brothers, having endured a short pain that brings everlasting life, have now died under God’s covenant. But you, through God’s judgment, will receive in just measure the penalties of your arrogance. ³⁷But I, as my brothers, give up both body and soul for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to the nation, and that you, amidst trials and plagues, may confess that he alone is God, ³⁸and that in me and my brothers you may bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has been justly brought upon our whole race.” ³⁹But the king, falling into a rage, handled him worse than all the rest, being exasperated at his mocking. ⁴⁰So he also died pure, putting his whole trust in the Lord. ⁴¹Last of all, after her sons, the mother died. ⁴²Let it then suffice to have said thus much concerning the sacrificial feasts and the extreme tortures.

1: It came to pass that seven brothers and their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh.

2: One of them made himself the spokesman and said, “What would you ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

3: The king fell into a rage, and commanded that pans and caldrons be heated.

4: When these were immediately heated, he gave orders to cut out the tongue of him who had been their spokesman, and to scalp him, and to cut off his extremities, with the rest of his brothers and his mother looking on.

5: And when he was utterly maimed, the king gave orders to bring him to the fire, being yet alive, and to fry him in the pan. And as the smoke from the pan spread far, they and their mother also exhorted one another to die nobly, saying this:

6: “The Lord God sees, and in truth is entreated for us, as Moses declared in his song, which witnesses against the people to their faces, saying, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.’ ”

7: And when the first had died like this, they brought the second to the mocking; and they pulled off the skin of his head with the hair and asked him, “Will you eat, before your body is punished in every limb?”

8: But he answered in the language of his ancestors and said to them, “No.” Therefore he also underwent the next torture in succession, as the first had done.

9: When he was at the last gasp, he said, “You, miscreant, release us out of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us who have died for his laws up to an everlasting renewal of life.”

10: After him, the third was made a victim of their mocking. When he was required, he quickly put out his tongue, and stretched out his hands courageously,

11: and nobly said, “I got these from heaven. For his laws’ sake I treat these with contempt. From him, I hope to receive these back again.”

12: As a result, the king himself and those who were with him were astonished at the young man’s soul, for he regarded the pains as nothing.

13: When he too was dead, they shamefully handled and tortured the fourth in the same way.

14: Being near to death he said this: “It is good to die at the hands of men and look for the hope which is given by God, that we will be raised up again by him. For as for you, you will have no resurrection to life.”

15: Next after him, they brought the fifth and shamefully handled him.

16: But he looked toward the king and said, “Because you have authority among men, though you are corruptible, you do what you please. But don’t think that our race has been forsaken by God.

17: But hold on to your ways, and see how his sovereign majesty will torture you and your descendants!”

18: After him they brought the sixth. When he was about to die, he said, “Don’t be vainly deceived, for we suffer these things for our own doings, as sinning against our own God. Astounding things have come to pass;

19: but don’t think that you will be unpunished, having tried to fight against God!”

20: But above all, the mother was marvelous and worthy of honorable memory; for when she watched seven sons perishing within the space of one day, she bore the sight with a good courage because of her hope in the Lord.

21: She exhorted each one of them in the language of their fathers, filled with a noble spirit and stirring up her woman’s thoughts with manly courage, saying to them,

22: “I don’t know how you came into my womb. It wasn’t I who gave you your spirit and your life. It wasn’t I who brought into order the first elements of each one of you.

23: Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the first origin of man and devised the first origin of all things, in mercy gives back to you again both your spirit and your life, as you now treat yourselves with contempt for his laws’ sake.”

24: But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive didn’t only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and raise him to high honor if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs.

25: But when the young man would in no way listen, the king called to him his mother, and urged her to advise the youth to save himself.

26: When he had urged her with many words, she undertook to persuade her son.

27: But bending toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, she spoke this in the language of her fathers: “My son, have pity upon me who carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you three years, and nourished and brought you up to this age, and sustained you.

28: I beg you, my child, to lift your eyes to the sky and the earth, and to see all things that are in it, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were, and that the race of men in this way comes into being.

29: Don’t be afraid of this butcher, but, proving yourself worthy of your brothers, accept your death, that in God’s mercy I may receive you again with your brothers.”

30: But before she had finished speaking, the young man said, “What are you all waiting for? I don’t obey the commandment of the king, but I listen to the commandment of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses.

31: But you, who have devised all kinds of evil against the Hebrews, will in no way escape God’s hands.

32: For we are suffering because of our own sins.

33: If for rebuke and chastening, our living Lord has been angered a little while, yet he will again be reconciled with his own servants.

34: But you, O unholy man and of all most vile, don’t be vainly lifted up in your wild pride with uncertain hopes, raising your hand against the heavenly children.

35: For you have not yet escaped the judgment of the Almighty God who sees all things.

36: For these our brothers, having endured a short pain that brings everlasting life, have now died under God’s covenant. But you, through God’s judgment, will receive in just measure the penalties of your arrogance.

37: But I, as my brothers, give up both body and soul for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to the nation, and that you, amidst trials and plagues, may confess that he alone is God,

38: and that in me and my brothers you may bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has been justly brought upon our whole race.”

39: But the king, falling into a rage, handled him worse than all the rest, being exasperated at his mocking.

40: So he also died pure, putting his whole trust in the Lord.

41: Last of all, after her sons, the mother died.

42: Let it then suffice to have said thus much concerning the sacrificial feasts and the extreme tortures.

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Scripture text: World English Bible, Catholic Edition (WEBC) — public domain

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