Hebrews 11:37

New Testament

33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, 35 and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. 36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

Ascension of Isaiah 5:11

Pseudepigrapha

9 And Isaiah answered and said: "So far as I have utterance (I say): Damned and accused be thou and all they powers and all thy house. 10 For thou canst not take (from me) aught save the skin of my body." 11 And they seized and sawed in sunder Isaiah, the son of Amoz, with a wooden saw. 12 And Manasseh and Belchira and the false prophets and the princes and the people [and] all stood looking on. 13 And to the prophets who were with him he said before he had been sawn in sunder: "Go ye to the region of Tyre and Sidon; for for me only hath God mingled the cup." 14 And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain. 15 This, Beliar did to Isaiah through Belchira and Manasseh; for Sammael was very wrathful against Isaiah from the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, on account of the things which he had seen regarding the Beloved.

 Notes and References

"... The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, like many pseudepigrapha (especially 1 Enoch) is composite, comprising three separate sections: the Martyrdom of Isaiah (basically chapters 1-5): the Testament of Hezekiah (3:13-4:18): and the Vision of Isaiah (chapters 6-11) ... Two or three of the writings originally may have circulated independently. The first writing is Jewish, dating from around the second century B.C., and the other two are Christian, having been composed around the end of the second century A.D. A few scholars think that all three compositions already existed in the first century, and it is conceivable that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew the Martyrdom of Isaiah (see Hebrews 11:37), but it should not be forgotten that Isaiah's martyrdom is also recorded in the Lives of the Prophets ..."

Charlesworth, James H. The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, with a Supplement (pp. 125-126) Society of Biblical Literature, 1981

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.