4 Maccabees

Devotion to God and the Rule of Reason

1 Since I am about to present a deeply philosophical argument, whether religious reasoning is absolute master of the emotions, I would rightly advise you to pay close attention to philosophy. 2 For the subject is essential to everyone as a path to knowledge, and it also includes the praise of the greatest virtue, I mean good judgment. 3 If, then, reasoning is seen to master the emotions that hinder self-control, such as gluttony and desire, 4 it is also clearly shown to rule over the emotions that hinder justice, such as malice, and over those that hinder courage, such as anger, fear, and pain. 5 Perhaps some may ask, “How is it, then, that reasoning, if it rules the emotions, isn’t also master of forgetfulness and ignorance?” They attempt a ridiculous argument. 6 For reasoning does not rule over its own emotions, but over those that are contrary to justice, courage, and self-control;⁠a and it rules over these not to destroy them, but so as not to give in to them. 7 I could show you from many different sources that reasoning is sole master of the emotions, 8 but I can prove it far more strongly from the bravery of those who died for virtue: Eleazar, the seven brothers, and their mother. 9 For all of them, by treating pain with contempt even to the point of death, demonstrated that reasoning has command over the emotions. 10 For their virtues, then, I may praise those men who died with their mother at this time for the sake of what is noble and good, and for the honors they received I may call them blessed. 11 For they won admiration for their courage and endurance not only from people everywhere, but even from those who tortured them, and they became the cause of the downfall of the tyranny over their nation. They defeated the tyrant by their endurance, so that through them their homeland was purified. 12 I will soon be able to speak about this as well, but first, as is my custom, I will begin with the thesis and then turn to their story, giving glory to the all-wise God.

Reason, Wisdom, and the Emotions

13 The question, then, is whether reasoning is absolute master of the emotions. 14 Let’s determine, then, what reasoning is and what emotion is, how many forms of emotion there are, and whether reasoning rules over all of these. 15 Reasoning, then, is the mind that, by thinking rightly, prefers the life of wisdom. 16 Wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human matters, and of their causes. 17 This wisdom is the education given by the law, through which we learn divine matters reverently and human matters to our benefit. 18 The forms of wisdom are good judgment, justice, courage, and self-control. 19 The most important of all is good judgment, through which reasoning rules over the emotions. 20 The two most comprehensive kinds of emotion are pleasure and pain, and each of these by nature concerns both the body and the soul. 21 Many emotions follow from pleasure and pain. 22 Before pleasure comes desire, and after pleasure, joy. 23 Before pain comes fear, and after pain, sorrow. 24 Anger is an emotion common to pleasure and pain, if anyone pays attention when it strikes. 25 In pleasure there is also a malicious disposition, which is the most varied of all the emotions. 26 In the soul it takes the form of boastfulness, love of money, love of glory, contentiousness, and envy. 27 In the body it takes the form of indiscriminate eating, gluttony, and eating alone. 28 Just as pleasure and pain are two plants growing from the body and the soul, so these plants have many offshoots. 29 Reasoning, the master gardener, weeds and prunes each of these, ties them up, waters them, and irrigates them in every way, taming the overgrowth of habits and emotions. 30 For reasoning is the leader of the virtues, but it is the sole ruler of the emotions. Observe, then, first from the actions that hinder self-control, that reasoning is absolute master of the emotions.

The Torah Trains Self-Control

31 Self-control, then, is mastery over the desires. 32 Some desires belong to the soul and others to the body, and reasoning is seen to rule over both. 33 Otherwise, how is it that when we are drawn toward forbidden foods, we turn away from the pleasure they would bring? Isn’t it because reasoning is able to master the appetites? I believe so. 34 This is why, when we crave seafood, birds, four-footed animals, and all kinds of food forbidden to us by the law, we abstain through the mastery of reasoning. 35 For the emotions of our appetites are held back by the self-controlled mind and checked, and all the impulses of the body are reined in by reasoning.

Joseph Resists Desire

1 And why is it surprising if the desires of the soul for union with beauty are made powerless? 2 It is for this, at any rate, that the self-controlled Joseph is praised, because by his reasoning he mastered sensual pleasure. 3 For although he was young and at the height of sexual desire, he overcame the frenzy of his emotions by reasoning.⁠a 4 And reasoning is seen to master not only the frenzy of sensual pleasure, but every desire. 5 For instance, the law says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 6 In fact, since the law has told us not to desire, I could much more easily persuade you that reasoning is able to master desires,⁠b just as it masters the emotions that hinder justice. 7 Otherwise, how could someone who is by nature a solitary eater, a glutton, or even a drunkard learn better ways, unless reasoning is clearly master of the emotions?

The Torah Teaches Justice and Restraint

8 So as soon as someone lives by the law, even if he is a lover of money, he forces himself to act against his own nature, lending to the needy without interest and canceling the debt when the seventh year arrives. 9 If someone is stingy, he is ruled by the law through reasoning, so that he does not gather the last of his harvest or glean the last grapes from his vineyard. In other matters too we can see that reasoning is master of the emotions. 10 For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not betrayed for their sake. 11 It prevails over love for one’s wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law. 12 It rules over love for one’s children, so that one punishes them for wrongdoing. 13 It masters the closeness of friends, so that one reproves them for wickedness. 14 Don’t think it strange that reasoning, through the law, can prevail even over hatred. It does not cut down the cultivated trees of an enemy, but protects the property of enemies from those who would destroy it, and helps raise up what has fallen. 15 Reasoning is also seen to master the more violent emotions: love of power, vanity, boastfulness, arrogance, and envy. 16 For the self-controlled mind drives out all these malicious emotions, just as it drives out anger, for it masters even this. 17 Moses, when he was angry with Dathan and Abiram, did nothing against them in anger, but controlled his anger by reasoning.⁠c 18 For the self-controlled mind, as I said, is able to triumph over the emotions, changing some and making others powerless. 19 Why else did our most wise father Jacob blame Simeon and Levi for irrationally slaughtering the whole people of the Shechemites, saying, “Cursed be their anger”?⁠d 20 For if reasoning could not master anger, he would not have spoken this way. 21 For when God formed human beings, he planted in them their emotions and character, 22 and at that time he enthroned the mind, through the senses, as the sacred ruler over all. 23 To the mind he gave the law, and whoever lives by it will rule a kingdom that is self-controlled, just, good, and courageous. 24 How then, someone might ask, if reasoning is master of the emotions, does it not master forgetfulness and ignorance?

Reason Governs the Emotions

1 The argument is completely ridiculous, for reasoning is not shown to rule over its own emotions, but over those of the body. 2 For example, none of you can root out desire, but reasoning can enable you not to be enslaved to desire. 3 None of you can root out anger from the soul, but reasoning can help you against anger. 4 None of you can root out malice, but reasoning can fight on your side so that you do not give in to malice. 5 For reasoning does not uproot the emotions, but fights against them.

David Masters His Thirst

6 This can be seen more clearly from the thirst of King David. 7 After David had been attacking the Philistines all day long, and had killed many of them with the help of his nation’s soldiers, 8 then, when evening came, sweating and very tired, he went to the royal tent, around which the whole army of our ancestors was encamped. 9 All the others were at supper, 10 but the king, who was extremely thirsty, although he had plenty of springs, could not quench his thirst from them.⁠a 11 Instead, an irrational desire for the water in the enemy’s territory grew stronger, burned within him, and wore him down until it consumed him. 12 When his bodyguards complained about the king’s desire, two strong young soldiers, out of respect for the king’s desire, put on their full armor, took a water jar, and climbed over the enemy’s ramparts. 13 Unnoticed by the guards at the gate, they went searching through the whole of the enemy camp. 14 They found the spring, and boldly brought the king a drink from it. 15 But although he was burning with thirst, he reasoned that a drink regarded as equal in value to blood was a terrible danger to his soul. 16 So, setting reasoning against his desire, he poured out the drink as an offering to God. 17 For the self-controlled mind is able to conquer the pressure of the emotions and to put out the fire of frenzy, 18 and to wrestle down the pains of the body even when they are extreme, and through the nobility of reasoning to reject with contempt all the domination of the emotions.

The Background to the Persecution

19 And now the moment calls us to demonstrate self-controlled reasoning from history. 20 At a time when our ancestors enjoyed deep peace because they obeyed the law, and were prospering, so that even Seleucus Nicanor, the king of Asia, set aside money for their temple worship and recognized their way of life, 21 then certain people rebelled against the common harmony and suffered many kinds of disasters.

An Attempt to Plunder the Temple Treasury

1 A man named Simon was a political opponent of Onias, a noble and good man who at that time held the high priesthood for life. After slandering Onias in every way, Simon was unable to harm him in the eyes of the people, so he fled into exile, intending to betray his country. 2 He went to Apollonius, the military governor of Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia, and said, 3 “Since I am loyal to the king’s interests, I have come to inform you that many thousands in private funds are stored in the treasuries of Jerusalem. They do not belong to the temple, but belong to King Seleucus.” 4 When Apollonius had learned the details of this, he praised Simon for his concern for the king, and went up to Seleucus and told him about the treasure. 5 Having received authority over the matter, he quickly advanced into our country with the cursed Simon and a very large army. 6 He said that he had come by order of the king to take the private funds from the treasury. 7 The nation was indignant at this announcement and protested, regarding it as an outrage that those who had entrusted deposits to the temple treasury should be robbed of them, and they resisted as well as they could. 8 But Apollonius went into the temple, making threats. 9 The priests, together with the women and children in the temple, begged God to shield the holy place that was being treated with contempt. 10 As Apollonius was going up with his armed force to seize the money, angels on horseback appeared from heaven with flashing weapons, filling them with great fear and trembling. 11 Apollonius fell down half dead in the court of the temple that is open to all peoples, stretched out his hands to heaven, and with tears begged the Hebrews to pray for him and appease the heavenly army. 12 For he said that he had sinned so greatly that he deserved to die, and that if he were saved he would praise the blessedness of the holy place to everyone. 13 Moved by these words, Onias the high priest, although he was otherwise cautious, prayed for him, so that King Seleucus would not think that Apollonius had been killed by a human plot and not by divine justice. 14 Apollonius, unexpectedly saved, went away to report to the king what had happened to him.

Antiochus and the Persecution

15 When King Seleucus died, his son Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded him on the throne, an arrogant and terrible man. 16 He removed Onias from the high priesthood and appointed his brother Jason as high priest, 17 who had agreed to pay him three thousand six hundred and sixty talents every year if he would give him the office. 18 He gave him the high priesthood and the leadership of the nation. 19 Jason changed the people’s way of life and turned their government toward complete lawlessness, 20 so that he not only built a gymnasium on the very citadel of our country, but also abolished the care of the temple. 21 Divine justice was angered by this and brought Antiochus himself to make war on them. 22 For when he was at war with Ptolemy in Egypt, he heard that a rumor of his death had spread and that the people of Jerusalem had celebrated it greatly, and he quickly marched against them. 23 When he had plundered them, he issued a decree that if any of them were found living by the laws of their ancestors, they would be put to death. 24 But he could not in any way destroy, by his decrees, the nation’s obedience to the law, and he saw all his threats and punishments brought to nothing. 25 Even women were thrown from cliffs along with their infants because they had circumcised their children, though they knew beforehand that they would suffer this. 26 So when his decrees were treated with contempt by the people, he himself tried through torture to force every member of the nation to eat defiled foods and renounce Judaism.

Antiochus Challenges Eleazar

1 The tyrant Antiochus took his seat with his advisers on a high place, with his armed troops standing around him, 2 and ordered his guards to seize every one of the Hebrews and force them to eat pork and food sacrificed to idols. 3 If any refused to eat the defiled food, they were to be tortured on the wheel and killed. 4 When many had been seized, one man was brought forward first from the group, named Eleazar. He was a priest by descent and an expert in the law, advanced in age and known to many in the tyrant’s court because of his years. 5 When Antiochus saw him, he said, 6 “Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to eat some pork and save yourself. 7 For I respect your age and your gray hair. But although you have had them so long, you do not seem to me to be a philosopher, since you practice the religion of the Jews. 8 Why do you loathe eating the excellent meat of this animal, when nature has given it to us as a gift? 9 It is foolish not to enjoy pleasant things that are not shameful, and wrong to reject the gifts of nature. 10 And I think you will be acting even more foolishly if you hold empty opinions about the truth and, on top of that, defy me to your own punishment. 11 Won’t you wake up from your nonsense philosophy, clear the foolishness out of your reasoning, and with a mind worthy of your age pursue the truth of what is to your advantage? 12 Won’t you respect my kindly advice and have pity on your old age? 13 Consider this: even if there is some power watching over this religion of yours, it would forgive you for any transgression of the law committed under compulsion.”

Eleazar Defends Obedience to the Torah

14 While the tyrant was urging him in this way to eat forbidden meat, Eleazar asked for permission to speak. 15 When he received permission to speak, he began to address the crowd as follows: 16 “Antiochus, we who have been persuaded to live by a divine law consider no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law. 17 So we consider it right not to break the law in any way. 18 Even if our law were not truly divine, as you suppose, and we only thought it divine, even then it would not be right for us to destroy our reputation for piety. 19 So don’t think that eating defiled food is a small sin.⁠a 20 For breaking the law in small matters is as serious as breaking it in great ones, 21 since in either case the law is treated with contempt in the same way. 22 You mock our philosophy, as if we lived by it without good reason. 23 But it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it trains us in courage, so that we endure every hardship willingly. 24 It teaches us justice, so that in all our dealings we act fairly, and it teaches us piety, so that we worship the only God who exists with the reverence he deserves. 25 That is why we do not eat defiled food. For we believe that God established the law, and we know that the Creator of the world, in giving us the law, has compassion for us according to our nature. 26 He has allowed us to eat what is suited to our souls, and has forbidden us to eat meat that is harmful to them. 27 But like a tyrant, you not only force us to break the law, but also to eat, so that you can mock us for eating this defiled food, which we hate most of all. 28 But you will not have this laugh at my expense, 29 nor will I break the sacred oaths of my ancestors to keep the law, 30 not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my insides. 31 I am not so old and cowardly that my reasoning is not young when it comes to piety. 32 So get your wheels ready and fan the fire hotter. 33 I do not pity my old age so much that I would break the law of my ancestors for my own sake. 34 I will not lie to you, law, my teacher, nor will I renounce you, beloved self-mastery. 35 I will not shame you, philosophical reason, nor will I deny you, honored priesthood and knowledge of the law. 36 You will not defile the dignified mouth of my old age, nor a lifetime spent keeping the law. 37 My ancestors will receive me pure, since I did not fear your compulsion even to death. 38 For you may rule as a tyrant over the ungodly, but you will not master my reasoning about piety, either by your words or by your actions.”

The Martyrdom of Eleazar

1 When Eleazar had answered the tyrant’s urging in this way, the guards who stood by dragged him roughly to the instruments of torture. 2 First they stripped the old man, though he was adorned with the dignity of piety. 3 Then they tied his arms behind him on each side and whipped him. 4 A herald facing him shouted, “Obey the king’s commands!” 5 But the high-minded and truly noble Eleazar, as though he were being tortured in a dream, was not moved in any way. 6 The old man kept his eyes raised high toward heaven while the whips tore his flesh, his blood streamed down, and his sides were cut open. 7 He fell to the ground because his body could no longer bear the pain, but he kept his reasoning upright and unbending. 8 Then one of the cruel guards leaped on him and kicked him in the side to make him get up after he fell. 9 But he endured the pain, disregarded the compulsion, and held out through the abuse. 10 Like a noble athlete taking blows, the old man defeated his torturers. 11 His face was covered in sweat and he was gasping for breath, and even his torturers admired his courage. 12 So, partly out of pity for his old age, 13 partly out of sympathy as old acquaintances, and partly out of admiration for his endurance, some of the king’s attendants came to him and said, 14 “Eleazar, why are you irrationally destroying yourself through these sufferings? 15 We will bring you some cooked food, and you can save yourself by pretending to eat pork.”⁠a 16 But Eleazar, as though the advice tortured him more cruelly, cried out, 17 “We children of Abraham must never think so poorly that we lose heart and act out a role unworthy of us. 18 For it would be irrational if, having lived in accordance with the truth to old age and having guarded our reputation for it by keeping the law, we now changed course 19 and ourselves became a model of impiety to the young, by setting an example of eating defiled food. 20 It would be shameful to live on for a short time, mocked by everyone for cowardice, 21 and despised by the tyrant as unmanly, for not defending our divine law to the death. 22 So you, children of Abraham, die nobly for piety. 23 And you, the tyrant’s guards, why are you waiting?” 24 When they saw that he was so high-minded in the face of compulsion, and not swayed even by their pity, they took him to the fire. 25 There they burned him with cruelly designed instruments, threw him down, and poured foul-smelling liquids into his nostrils. 26 When he had been burned to the bone and was about to faint, he raised his eyes to God and said, 27 “You know, God, that although I could have saved myself, I am dying in fiery torments for the sake of the law. 28 Be merciful to your people, and let my punishment on their behalf be enough for you.⁠b 29 Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs.” 30 After saying this, the holy man died nobly in his torments, and even in the agonies of death he held firm in his reasoning for the sake of the law.

Eleazar Demonstrates the Strength of Reason

31 It is beyond dispute, then, that religious reasoning is master of the emotions. 32 For if the emotions had mastered reasoning, I would have credited them with this victory. 33 But now that reasoning has conquered the emotions, we rightly give it the authority to rule. 34 And it is right for us to acknowledge that power belongs to reasoning, since it masters even pains that come from outside; to deny it would be ridiculous. 35 I am showing not only that reasoning has mastered pains, but also that it masters pleasures and does not give in to them at all.

Praise for Eleazar

1 Like an excellent helmsman, the reasoning of our father Eleazar steered the ship of piety on the sea of the emotions, 2 and though it was battered by the tyrant’s threats and swamped by the towering waves of torture, 3 it never turned the rudder of piety until it sailed into the harbor of immortal victory. 4 No city besieged by many different siege engines ever held out as that most holy man did. His sacred soul was set on fire by abuse and the rack, yet he defeated his besiegers through the reasoning that shielded his piety. 5 For father Eleazar, setting his mind like a jutting cliff, broke the raging waves of the emotions. 6 Priest worthy of the priesthood, you did not defile your sacred teeth, nor did you let your stomach, which had held only what was pious and pure, be polluted by defiled food. 7 You lived in harmony with the law, a philosopher of the divine life. 8 Such should be those who carry out the law with their own blood and defend it with noble sweat through sufferings to the point of death. 9 You, father, through your endurance confirmed our obedience to the law and brought it glory. You did not abandon the holiness you had praised, and by your deeds you made your words of divine philosophy believable. 10 Old man more powerful than tortures, elder more vigorous than fire, greatest king over the emotions, Eleazar! 11 For just as father Aaron, armed with the censer, ran through the crowd of people and defeated the angel of fire,⁠a 12 so Eleazar, the descendant of Aaron, though wasting away in the fire, did not abandon his reasoning. 13 What is most amazing is that although he was an old man, the strength of his body was already gone, his flesh hung loose, and his muscles were worn out, he became young again 14 in spirit through reasoning, and with reasoning like Isaac’s he made the many-headed rack powerless. 15 Blessed old age, revered gray head, law-abiding life, made perfect by the faithful seal of death!⁠b

Reason and Faithfulness to the Torah

16 If, then, an old man despised tortures to the point of death for the sake of piety, it is beyond dispute that religious reasoning is ruler of the emotions. 17 But perhaps someone might say, “Not everyone masters their emotions, because not everyone has wise reasoning.” 18 But those who care for piety with their whole heart are the only ones able to master the emotions of the flesh, 19 since they believe that they do not die to God, just as our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not die, but live to God.⁠c 20 So it is no objection that some people seem to be ruled by their emotions because their reasoning is weak. 21 For who, living as a philosopher by the whole rule of philosophy, and believing in God, 22 and knowing that it is blessed to endure every hardship for the sake of virtue, would not master his emotions through godliness? 23 For only the wise and courageous person is master of the emotions.

Antiochus Addresses the Seven Brothers

1 This is why even young boys, living as philosophers by religious reasoning, have mastered even harsher tortures. 2 For when the tyrant was clearly defeated in his first attempt, unable to force an old man to eat defiled food, he became violently emotional and ordered that others from among the Hebrew captives be brought. If they ate the defiled food, they were to be released once they had eaten, but if they refused, they were to be tortured even more cruelly. 3 When the tyrant had given these orders, seven brothers were brought before him together with their aged mother. They were handsome, modest, noble, and graceful in every way. 4 When the tyrant saw them standing around their mother as if in a chorus, he was pleased with them. Struck by their good looks and noble bearing, he smiled at them, called them closer, and said, 5 “Young men, I admire each of you with goodwill, and I greatly honor so large a group of brothers. I not only advise you not to share the madness of the old man who has already been tortured, but I urge you to give in to me and enjoy my friendship. 6 For just as I can punish those who disobey my orders, I can also reward those who obey me. 7 So trust me, and you will receive positions of authority in my government, if you reject the ancestral rule of your way of life, 8 adopt the Greek way of life, change how you live, and enjoy your youth. 9 For if you make me angry by your disobedience, you will force me to destroy each one of you with terrible punishments through torture. 10 So have mercy on yourselves. Even I, your enemy, feel pity for your youth and your good looks. 11 Won’t you consider this: if you disobey, nothing awaits you but death on the rack?” 12 When he had said this, he ordered the instruments of torture to be set out in front of them, so that fear might persuade them to eat defiled food. 13 When the guards had set out wheels and joint-dislocators, racks and rollers, catapults, cauldrons and frying pans, thumbscrews, iron claws and wedges, and bellows for the fire, the tyrant went on, 14 “Be afraid, young men. The justice you worship will be merciful to you if you break the law under compulsion.” 15 But when they heard these persuasive words and saw the terrible instruments, they not only were not afraid, but answered the tyrant with philosophy of their own, and by their sound reasoning they brought down his tyranny. 16 Yet let us consider what arguments they would have used if any of them had been cowardly and unmanly. Would they not have been these? 17 “How miserable we are, and how utterly foolish! When the king invites us and urges us to accept his favors, should we not obey him? 18 Why do we please ourselves with empty plans and dare a disobedience that will bring us death? 19 Brothers, shall we not fear the instruments of torture, weigh the threats of torment, and give up this vanity and destructive boasting? 20 Let us have pity on our youth and compassion for our mother’s old age. 21 And let us keep in mind that if we disobey, we will die. 22 Divine justice will also forgive us if we fear the king because we are compelled to. 23 Why remove ourselves from this delightful life and deprive ourselves of this pleasant world? 24 Let us not resist compulsion, or seek empty glory through our own torture. 25 Not even the law itself would willingly put us to death for being afraid of the instruments of torture. 26 Why has such stubbornness taken hold of us, and why do we take pleasure in an endurance that leads to death, when we could live in peace if we obey the king?”

The Brothers Refuse to Compromise

27 But the young men said nothing like this, and did not even think it, when they were about to be tortured. 28 For they despised the emotions and were masters of pain, 29 so that as soon as the tyrant had finished urging them to eat defiled food, all of them together, with one voice, as though from one soul, said,

The Brothers Defend Their Ancestral Torah

1 “Tyrant, why are you waiting? We are ready to die rather than break the commandments of our ancestors. 2 We would rightly be disgracing our ancestors if we did not obey the law and take Moses as our counselor. 3 Tyrant, counselor of lawbreaking, you hate us, so do not pity us more than we pity ourselves. 4 For we consider your mercy, which offers us safety at the price of breaking the law, harder to bear than death itself. 5 You try to frighten us by threatening us with death by torture, as though you had learned nothing from Eleazar a short time ago. 6 If the old man of the Hebrews died piously for the sake of piety after enduring torture, it would be even more right for us young men to die despising the tortures you force on us, which our aged teacher also defeated. 7 So make your attempt, tyrant. If you put us to death for the sake of piety, don’t think that you harm us by torturing us. 8 For through this suffering and endurance we will have the prize of virtue,⁠a and we will be with God, for whose sake we suffer. 9 But for your bloody murder of us, you will suffer from divine justice the eternal torment by fire that you deserve.”

The Death of the First Brother

10 When they had said this, the tyrant was not only angry with them for disobeying, but furious with them for being ungrateful. 11 So at his command the guards brought forward the eldest, tore off his tunic, and tied his hands and arms on each side with straps. 12 When they had worn themselves out whipping him without achieving anything,⁠b they threw him onto the wheel. 13 Stretched out on it, the noble young man had his joints dislocated. 14 With every limb broken, he denounced the tyrant, saying, 15 “Wicked tyrant, enemy of heavenly justice, cruel-hearted man, you are torturing me in this way not because I have killed anyone or committed sacrilege, but because I defend the divine law.” 16 When the guards said, “Agree to eat, so that you may be released from the tortures,” 17 he answered, “Your wheel is not so strong, you wicked servants, that it can choke my reasoning. Cut off my limbs, burn my flesh, and twist my joints. 18 Through all these tortures I will convince you that the children of the Hebrews alone are unconquerable for the sake of virtue.” 19 While he was saying this, they spread fire under him, stoked it, and stretched him tighter on the wheel. 20 The wheel was smeared with blood on every side, the heap of coals was put out by the dripping fluids, and flesh hung around the axles of the machine. 21 Although the frame of his bones was already broken apart, the high-minded young son of Abraham did not groan. 22 Instead, as though he were being changed by the fire into immortality, he nobly endured the rack. 23 “Brothers, follow my example,” he said. “Do not desert me in the struggle, and do not renounce our brotherhood of courage. 24 Fight the holy and noble fight for piety, so that the just Providence of our ancestors may be merciful to our nation and punish the cursed tyrant.” 25 When he had said this, the saintly young man breathed his last.

The Death of the Second Brother

26 While everyone was marveling at his courage, the guards brought forward the next eldest. They fitted on iron gauntlets with sharp claws and bound him to the torture machine. 27 When they asked him whether he would eat before he was tortured, they heard his noble decision. 28 Then those men, like wild leopards, tore away with the iron claws all the flesh from his neck to his chin and the skin of his head. But he endured the pain steadfastly and said, 29 “How sweet is every kind of death for the piety of our ancestors!” And he said to the tyrant, 30 “Most cruel of all tyrants, don’t you think you are suffering more torment than I am, as you see the arrogant reasoning of your tyranny defeated by our endurance for the sake of piety? 31 For I lighten my pain with the joys that come from virtue, 32 but you are tormented by the threats that come with impiety. And you will not escape, most wicked tyrant, the punishments of divine anger.”

The Death of the Third Brother

1 When he too had endured a death worthy of praise, the third was brought forward, and many people urged him to taste the meat and save himself. 2 But he shouted, “Don’t you know that the same father who fathered those who died fathered me, that the same mother bore me, and that I was brought up in the same teachings? 3 I do not renounce the noble kinship of my brothers.” 5 Angered by the man’s boldness of speech, they dislocated his hands and feet⁠a with instruments made for wrenching joints, and prying his limbs out of their sockets, they dismembered him. 6 They broke his fingers, his arms, his legs, and his elbows. 7 When they could not break him in any way, they removed the instruments and tore away his skin along with the tips of his fingers. 8 Then they immediately took him to the wheel, where his spine was pulled out of joint, and he saw his own flesh torn to pieces and drops of blood flowing from his insides. 9 As he was about to die, he said, 10 “We, wicked tyrant, are suffering this for the sake of God’s teaching and virtue, 11 but you, for your impiety and bloody murder, will endure torments without end.”

The Death of the Fourth Brother

12 When he too had died in a way worthy of his brothers, they dragged forward the fourth, saying, 13 “Don’t share the madness of your brothers, but obey the king and save yourself.” 14 But he said to them, “You don’t have a fire hot enough to make me a coward. 15 By the blessed death of my brothers, the eternal destruction of the tyrant, and the everlasting life of the pious, I will not deny our noble brotherhood. 16 Devise tortures, tyrant, so that through them you may learn that I am the brother of those tortured before me.” 17 When he heard this, the bloodthirsty, murderous, and utterly wicked Antiochus ordered his tongue to be cut out. 18 But he said, “Even if you take away my organ of speech, God still hears the silent. 19 Look, I am holding out my tongue; cut it off, for that will not cut out the tongue of our reasoning. 20 We gladly let the limbs of our bodies be cut off for God’s sake. 21 But God will soon come after you, for you are cutting out a tongue that sings hymns to God.”

The Death of the Fifth Brother

1 When he too had died, mutilated by the tortures, the fifth leaped forward and said, 2 “Tyrant, I am not going to beg to be excused from torture for the sake of virtue. 3 I have come forward of my own accord, so that by killing me too you will owe heavenly justice punishment for even more crimes. 4 You hater of virtue and hater of humanity, what have we done that you destroy us in this way? 5 Is it because we revere the Creator of all things and live according to his virtuous law? 6 But these things deserve honors, not tortures.” 9 As he was saying such things, the guards bound him and dragged him to the torture machine. 10 They tied his knees to it, fastened them with iron clamps, and bent his back over the wedge of the wheel, around which he was bent back completely like a scorpion, and his limbs were torn apart. 11 In this way his breathing was constricted and his body choked. 12 “Tyrant,” he said, “against your will you are doing us a great favor, by allowing us to show through nobler sufferings our endurance for the law.”

The Death of the Sixth Brother

13 When he too had died, the sixth, a young boy, was brought forward. When the tyrant asked him whether he wanted to eat and be released, he said, 14 “I am younger than my brothers in age, but I am their equal in understanding. 15 We were born and raised for the same purpose, and we are bound to die for the same cause as well. 16 So if you have decided to torture us for not eating defiled food, torture me!” 17 When he had said this, they brought him to the wheel. 18 He was carefully stretched out on it, his spine was dislocated, and he was burned from underneath. 19 They heated sharp skewers, brought them to his back, pierced his sides, and burned his insides. 20 While he was being tortured he said, “What a holy contest, in which so many brothers have been called to a training ground of suffering for the sake of piety, and have not been defeated! 21 For religious knowledge, tyrant, is unconquerable. 22 Armed with nobility, I too will die with my brothers, 23 and I too will bring a great avenger upon you, you inventor of tortures and enemy of the truly pious. 24 We six boys have brought down your tyranny. 25 For isn’t your failure to change our reasoning or force us to eat defiled food your downfall? 26 Your fire is cold to us, your torture machines cause no pain, and your violence is powerless. 27 For it is not a tyrant’s guards but the divine law that protects us. That is why we keep our reasoning unconquered.”

The Death of the Seventh Brother

1 When he too had died a blessed death, thrown into a cauldron, the seventh, the youngest of all, came forward. 2 Although the tyrant had been fiercely reproached by his brothers, he felt pity for the boy when he saw him already in chains. He had him brought closer and tried to persuade him, saying, 3 “You see how your brothers’ madness ended: they were tortured to death for their disobedience. 4 If you do not obey, you too will be miserably tortured and die before your time. 5 But if you obey, you will be my friend and a leader in the affairs of the kingdom.” 6 After urging him in this way, he sent for the boy’s mother, so that, out of pity at losing so many sons, she might urge the one who was left to obey and be saved. 7 But his mother urged him on in the Hebrew language, as we will tell a little later. 8 “Release me,” he said. “Let me speak to the king and all his friends with him.” 9 They were delighted at the boy’s promise and quickly released him. 10 He ran to the nearest of the frying pans 11 and said, “Unholy tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, were you not ashamed to receive good things and your kingdom from God, and then to kill his servants and torture those who practice piety? 12 For this, divine justice is storing up for you a fiercer and eternal fire, and torments that will not let you go for all eternity. 13 As a human being, weren’t you ashamed, savage as you are, to cut out the tongues of people who have the same feelings as you and are made of the same elements, and to abuse and torture them in this way? 14 They have died nobly and fulfilled their piety toward God, but you will groan bitterly for having killed the champions of virtue without cause.” 15 So he went on, “I too, as I am about to die, 16 will not desert the heroic example of my brothers. 17 I call on the God of our ancestors to be merciful to our nation, 18 but he will punish you, both in this present life and when you are dead.” 19 After praying this, he threw himself into the frying pans, and so he died.

The Brothers Demonstrate the Strength of Reason

1 If, then, the seven brothers despised suffering even to the point of death, everyone must agree that religious reasoning is absolute master of the emotions. 2 For if they had been slaves to their emotions and eaten defiled food, we would say that they had been conquered by them. 3 But it is not so. Instead, by the reasoning that is praised by God, they mastered their emotions. 4 The supremacy of the mind cannot be overlooked, for it mastered both emotion and pain. 5 How, then, can we not acknowledge that these men mastered their emotions through right reasoning, since they did not turn back from the pains of fire?

The Brothers Encourage One Another

6 For just as towers at the entrance of a harbor break the threatening waves and make it calm for ships sailing into port, 7 so the seven-towered right reasoning of the young men fortified the harbor of piety and conquered the unruliness of the emotions. 8 For they formed a holy chorus of piety and encouraged one another, saying, 9 “Brothers, let’s die like brothers for the law. Let’s imitate the three young men in Assyria, who despised a furnace just as fierce. 10 Let’s not be cowards in showing our piety.” 11 One said, “Courage, brother,” and another, “Endure nobly.” 12 Another reminded them, “Remember where you come from, and by the hand of which father Isaac endured being offered as a sacrifice for the sake of piety.” 13 Each of them, all together, looking at one another cheerfully and very boldly, said, “Let’s consecrate ourselves with all our hearts to God, who gave us our souls, and let’s use our bodies to guard the law.⁠a 14 Let’s not fear the one who thinks he kills,⁠b 15 for a great struggle and danger to the soul lies in eternal torment for those who break the commandment of God. 16 Let’s arm ourselves, therefore, with the mastery over the emotions that divine reasoning gives. 17 For if we die like this, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will receive us,⁠c and all our ancestors will praise us.” 18 As each of the brothers was dragged away, those who were left said, “Brother, don’t disgrace us or betray our brothers who have died before us.” 19 You are not unaware of the affection of brotherhood, which the divine and all-wise Providence has passed on through fathers to their children and planted in them through the mother’s womb. 20 There brothers stay for the same length of time, are formed over the same period, grow from the same blood, and are brought to maturity through the same life. 21 They are born after the same length of time and drink milk from the same source, and in those embraces brother-loving souls are nourished together. 22 And they grow stronger through being raised together, through daily companionship, through the rest of their education, and through our training in the law of God. 23 Since brotherly love is so naturally strong, the seven brothers felt an even stronger love for one another. 24 For they had been educated in the same law, trained in the same virtues, and raised together in a just life, and so they loved one another all the more. 25 Their shared zeal for what is noble and good increased their goodwill and harmony toward one another, 26 for together with piety it made their brotherly love even more precious to them. 27 And yet, although nature, companionship, and virtuous habits increased their brotherly affection, those who were left endured for the sake of piety the sight of their brothers being abused and tortured to death.

Brotherly Affection and Courage

1 More than that, they even urged one another on to the torture, so that they not only despised pain, but also mastered the emotions of brotherly love. 2 Reasoning, more royal than kings and freer than the free! 3 What a holy and harmonious symphony of the seven brothers for the sake of piety!⁠a 4 None of the seven young men turned coward or shrank back from death. 5 Instead, all of them, as though running on the road to immortality, hurried toward death by torture. 6 Just as the hands and feet move in harmony with the soul’s direction, so those holy boys, as though moved by the immortal soul of piety, agreed together to die for its sake. 7 Most holy seven, brothers in harmony! For just as the seven days of creation encircle piety, 8 so the boys, dancing in a circle around the number seven, broke the fear of torture. 9 We shudder now as we hear about the suffering of those young men, but they not only saw it, and not only heard the threat spoken in the moment, but suffered it and endured, and that through the pains of fire. 10 What could be more painful? For the power of fire is sharp and swift, and it quickly destroyed their bodies.

The Mother Remains Faithful to the Torah

11 Don’t consider it amazing that reasoning mastered those men in their torments, since even a woman’s mind despised even more varied pains. 12 For the mother of the seven young men endured the tortures of each one of her children. 13 Consider how complex a mother’s love for her children is, which draws everything toward the feelings of her inmost heart. 14 Even irrational animals have a sympathy and love for their offspring like that of human beings. 15 Among birds, the tame ones that nest on the roofs of houses protect their young, 16 and others that build nests and hatch their young on mountain peaks, on steep cliffs, and in the holes and tops of trees keep away anyone who approaches. 17 If they cannot keep them away, they fly in circles around their young in the anguish of love, calling out in their own voice, and help their young in whatever way they can. 18 But why should we use irrational animals to show sympathy for children, 19 when even bees, at the time of making their honeycomb, defend themselves against intruders, strike those who approach their hive with their stings as if with iron, and fight them off to the death? 20 But sympathy for her children did not move the mother of the young men, whose soul was like Abraham’s.

The Strength of a Mother's Love

1 Reasoning of the children, master over the emotions! Piety, more precious to the mother than her children! 2 The mother had two things set before her: piety, or the safety of her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised. 3 She loved piety more, which preserves them for eternal life according to God. 4 How can I describe the love of parents for their children? They stamp a wonderful likeness of soul and form on the small nature of a child, especially because mothers feel the sufferings of their children more deeply than fathers do.⁠a 5 For the weaker in spirit mothers are, and the more children they bear, the more they love their children. 6 Of all mothers, the mother of the seven loved her children the most, since through seven pregnancies she had grown a deep love for them, 7 and because of the many birth pains she had suffered with each one, she could not help but feel for them. 8 Yet because of her fear of God, she disregarded the temporary safety of her children. 9 Not only that, but because of her sons’ nobility and their readiness to obey the law, her love for them was even greater. 10 For they were just, self-controlled, courageous, high-minded, loving toward their brothers, and so loving toward their mother that they obeyed her by keeping the law even to death. 11 Yet although there were so many reasons connected with her love for her children to draw the mother toward sympathy, in none of them were the many different tortures able to change her reasoning. 12 Instead, she urged each child separately, and all of them together, to die for piety. 13 Holy nature, parents’ affection, yearning for one’s offspring, the bond of nursing, and the unconquerable feelings of mothers! 14 Watching each one tortured and burned, the mother did not change her mind, because of piety. 15 She watched her children’s flesh melting in the fire, their toes and fingers twitching on the ground, and the flesh of their heads, down to their chins, hanging like masks. 16 Mother, tested now by more bitter pains than those of childbirth! 17 The only woman who gave birth to perfect piety! 18 Your firstborn breathing his last did not change you, nor the second looking at you pitifully in his torments, nor the third breathing out his life. 19 Nor did you weep when you saw the eyes of each one staring boldly at the same tortures, and their nostrils signaling their approaching death. 20 When you saw children’s flesh burned away upon children’s flesh, hands cut off upon hands, heads cut off upon heads, and the dead falling on the dead, and saw the place made a mass grave of your children by the tortures, you did not cry. 21 No siren’s song or swan’s voice draws its listeners as powerfully as the voices of children calling to their mother in the midst of torture. 22 How great and how many were the tortures the mother herself suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with hot irons! 23 But religious reasoning gave her heart courage in the midst of her emotions and strengthened her to disregard, for the moment, her love for her children. 24 Although she saw the destruction of seven children and the many different kinds of torture, the noble mother let go of all of it through her faith in God. 25 For as though in a council chamber, she saw in her own soul powerful advisers: nature, motherhood, love of children, and the torture of her children. 26 Holding two votes, one bringing death to her children and one bringing them safety, 27 she did not choose the one that would have saved her seven sons for a short time. 28 Instead, as a daughter of Abraham, she remembered his God-fearing endurance.

Praise for the Mother

29 Mother of the nation, defender of the law, champion of piety, and winner of the contest within your heart! 30 More noble than men in endurance, and braver than men in perseverance! 31 Just as Noah’s ark, carrying the world in the world-flooding deluge, endured the waves,⁠b 32 so you, guardian of the law, though overwhelmed on every side by the flood of your emotions and battered by the strong winds of your sons’ tortures, nobly endured the storms for the sake of piety.

The Mother's Reason Governs Her Grief

1 If, then, a woman, an old woman and the mother of seven children, endured watching her children tortured to death, it must be acknowledged that religious reasoning is absolute master of the emotions. 2 So I have shown not only that men have mastered their emotions, but also that a woman despised the greatest tortures. 3 The lions around Daniel were not as savage, nor was the furnace of Mishael burning as fiercely, as the love for her children that burned within her as she watched her seven sons tortured in so many ways. 4 But by the reasoning of piety the mother put out emotions so many and so great. 5 For we must also consider this: if the woman had been fainthearted, even though she was their mother, she would have mourned over them, and perhaps would have spoken like this: 6 “How wretched I am, and how many times miserable! I gave birth to seven sons and am now the mother of none. 7 Seven pregnancies for nothing, seven useless ten-month waits, fruitless nursing, and miserable breastfeeding! 8 For nothing, my sons, did I endure so many birth pains for you and the harder worries of raising you. 9 My sons, some of you unmarried, and others married for nothing! I will never see your children, or be called grandmother and be counted happy. 10 I, who had many beautiful children, am a widow, alone, with so much to grieve! 11 And when I die, I will have no son to bury me.”

The Mother Encourages Her Sons

12 But the holy and God-fearing mother did not mourn any of them with such a lament, nor did she try to turn any of them away from death, nor did she grieve for them as they died. 13 Instead, as though she had a mind of steel and were giving birth to her full number of sons again into immortality, she pleaded with them and urged them on to death for the sake of piety. 14 Mother, soldier of God for the sake of piety, old woman, you defeated even a tyrant by your endurance, and were found stronger than a man in deeds and in words. 15 For when you were arrested with your children, you stood and watched Eleazar being tortured, and said to your children in the Hebrew language, 16 “My children, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight eagerly for the law of our ancestors. 17 For it would be shameful if this old man endured pain for the sake of piety while you young men were terrified by the tortures. 18 Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life, 19 and so you ought to endure every hardship for God’s sake. 20 For his sake our father Abraham hurried to sacrifice his son Isaac, the father of our nation, and when Isaac saw his father’s hand coming down on him with the sword, he did not flinch.⁠a 21 The righteous Daniel was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace, and they endured for God’s sake. 22 So you too, who have the same faith in God, must not be dismayed. 23 For it would be unreasonable for those who know piety not to stand firm against suffering.” 24 With these words the mother of seven encouraged each of her sons and persuaded them to die rather than break the commandment of God. 25 They also knew that those who die for God live to God, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the patriarchs do.

The Death of the Mother

1 Some of the guards said that when she too was about to be seized and put to death, she threw herself into the fire so that no one would touch her body.⁠a 2 Mother, who together with your seven children broke the tyrant’s violence, made his evil plans useless, and showed the nobility of faith! 3 For like a roof set nobly on the pillars of your children, you held firm and did not sway under the earthquake of the tortures. 4 Take courage, then, holy-minded mother, and hold firmly to the hope of your endurance before God. 5 The moon in heaven with the stars is not as majestic as you, who lit the way to piety for your seven star-like sons. You are honored by God and set firmly with them in heaven.⁠b 6 For your children were descended from father Abraham.

Honor and Deliverance through the Martyrs

7 If it were permitted for us to paint the story of your piety as an artist would, wouldn’t those who saw it shudder at the sight of a mother of seven children enduring many kinds of tortures to the death for the sake of piety? 8 It would be fitting to inscribe these words on their tomb as a memorial for the people of our nation: 9 “Here lie buried an aged priest, an old woman, and seven sons, because of the violence of a tyrant who wanted to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews. 10 They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring tortures to the death.” 11 For it was truly a divine contest that they fought.⁠c 12 For on that day virtue was the judge of the contest, testing them for endurance, and the prize was immortality in endless life. 13 Eleazar fought first, the mother of the seven sons competed, and the brothers fought. 14 The tyrant was the opponent, and the world and all humanity were the spectators. 15 Reverence for God was victorious and crowned its own athletes. 16 Who did not admire the athletes of the divine law? Who was not amazed? 17 Even the tyrant himself and his whole council admired their endurance, 18 and because of it they now stand beside the divine throne and live the life of the blessed age. 19 For Moses says, “All the saints are under your hands.”⁠d

The Martyrs' Deaths and the Deliverance of Israel

20 These, then, who have been consecrated for God’s sake, are honored not only with this honor, but also because through them the enemy did not overpower our nation, 21 the tyrant was punished, and the homeland was purified, since they became, as it were, a ransom for the sin of the nation. 22 And through the blood of those pious ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice,⁠e divine Providence saved Israel, which had previously been mistreated. 23 For when the tyrant Antiochus saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under torture, he proclaimed their endurance to his soldiers as an example. 24 And so he had soldiers who were noble and brave in battle and in sieges, and he plundered and defeated all his enemies.

The Call to Remain Faithful to the Torah

1 Israelite children, descendants of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and be pious in every way, 2 knowing that religious reasoning is master of the emotions, not only of sufferings from within but also of those from outside. 3 So those who gave up their bodies to suffering for the sake of piety were not only admired by people, but were also counted worthy of a divine inheritance. 4 Because of them the nation gained peace, and by restoring obedience to the law in the homeland, they defeated the enemy. 5 The tyrant Antiochus was punished on earth, and is being punished now that he is dead. For when he was completely unable to force the people of Jerusalem to live like foreigners and abandon the customs of their ancestors, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.

The Mother's Recollection of Her Family

6 The mother of the seven sons also spoke these righteous words to her children: 7 “I was a pure virgin⁠a and did not leave my father’s house, and I guarded the rib from which woman was built. 8 No seducer in the desert or deceiver in the field ruined me, nor did the seducer, the deceitful snake, defile the purity of my virginity.⁠b 9 I lived with my husband through the years of my youth, and when these sons had grown up, their father died. He was fortunate, for he lived a life blessed with children and never knew the grief of losing them. 10 While he was still with you, he taught you the law and the prophets. 11 He read to you about Abel killed by Cain, Isaac offered as a burnt offering, and Joseph in prison. 12 He told you about the zealous Phinehas, and taught you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire. 13 He praised Daniel in the lions’ den and called him blessed. 14 He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah that says, “Even if you pass through fire, the flame will not burn you.”⁠c 15 He sang to you the words of David the psalmist, who says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” 16 He quoted to you the proverb of Solomon, which says, “It is a tree of life for those who do his will.” 17 He used to confirm what Ezekiel said: “Will these dry bones live?”⁠d 18 Nor did he forget to teach you the song that Moses taught, which says, 19 ‘I kill and I make alive.’ This is your life and the length of your days.”

The Fate of the Tyrant and the Martyrs

20 How bitter was that day, and yet not bitter, when the bitter Greek tyrant quenched fire with fire in his cruel cauldrons, and in his boiling rage brought the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the torture machine and to all his tortures again! 21 He blinded the pupils of their eyes, cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures. 22 For these crimes divine justice has pursued and will pursue the cursed tyrant. 23 But the sons of Abraham, together with their victorious mother, are gathered into the chorus of their ancestors, having received pure and immortal souls from God. 24 To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.⁠e