Author:

4Mac.1

[1] The subject that I am about to discuss is most philosophical, that is, whether devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. So it is right for me to advise you to pay earnest attention to philosophy.
[2] For the subject is essential to everyone who is seeking knowledge, and in addition it includes the praise of the highest virtue — I mean, of course, rational judgment.
[3] If, then, it is evident that reason rules over those emotions that hinder self-control, namely, gluttony and lust,
[4] it is also clear that it masters the emotions that hinder one from justice, such as malice, and those that stand in the way of courage, namely anger, fear, and pain.
[5] Some might perhaps ask, “If reason rules the emotions, why is it not sovereign over forgetfulness and ignorance?” Their attempt at argument is ridiculous!
[6] For reason does not rule its own emotions, but those that are opposed to justice, courage, and self-control; and it is not for the purpose of destroying them, but so that one may not give way to them.
[7]

I could prove to you from many and various examples that reason is dominant over the emotions,
[8] but I can demonstrate it best from the noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue, Eleazar and the seven brothers and their mother.
[9] All of these, by despising sufferings that bring death, demonstrated that reason controls the emotions.
[10] On this anniversary it is fitting for me to praise for their virtues those who, with their mother, died for the sake of nobility and goodness, but I would also call them blessed for the honor in which they are held.
[11] For all people, even their torturers, marveled at their courage and endurance, and they became the cause of the downfall of tyranny over their nation. By their endurance they conquered the tyrant, and thus their native land was purified through them.
[12] I shall shortly have an opportunity to speak of this; but, as my custom is, I shall begin by stating my main principle, and then I shall turn to their story, giving glory to the all-wise God.
[13]

Our inquiry, accordingly, is whether reason is sovereign over the emotions.
[14] We shall decide just what reason is and what emotion is, how many kinds of emotions there are, and whether reason rules over all these.
[15] Now reason is the mind that with sound logic prefers the life of wisdom.
[16] Wisdom, next, is the knowledge of divine and human matters and the causes of these.
[17] This, in turn, is education in the law, by which we learn divine matters reverently and human affairs to our advantage.
[18] Now the kinds of wisdom are rational judgment, justice, courage, and self-control.
[19] Rational judgment is supreme over all of these, since by means of it reason rules over the emotions.
[20] The two most comprehensive types of the emotions are pleasure and pain; and each of these is by nature concerned with both body and soul.
[21] The emotions of both pleasure and pain have many consequences.
[22] Thus desire precedes pleasure and delight follows it.
[23] Fear precedes pain and sorrow comes after.
[24] Anger, as a man will see if he reflects on this experience, is an emotion embracing pleasure and pain.
[25] In pleasure there exists even a malevolent tendency, which is the most complex of all the emotions.
[26] In the soul it is boastfulness, covetousness, thirst for honor, rivalry, and malice;
[27] in the body, indiscriminate eating, gluttony, and solitary gormandizing.
[28]

Just as pleasure and pain are two plants growing from the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these plants,
[29] each of which the master cultivator, reason, weeds and prunes and ties up and waters and thoroughly irrigates, and so tames the jungle of habits and emotions.
[30] For reason is the guide of the virtues, but over the emotions it is sovereign.

Observe now first of all that rational judgment is sovereign over the emotions by virtue of the restraining power of self-control.
[31] Self-control, then, is dominance over the desires.
[32] Some desires are mental, others are physical, and reason obviously rules over both.
[33] Otherwise how is it that when we are attracted to forbidden foods we abstain from the pleasure to be had from them? Is it not because reason is able to rule over appetites? I for one think so.
[34] Therefore when we crave seafood and fowl and animals and all sorts of foods that are forbidden to us by the law, we abstain because of domination by reason.
[35] For the emotions of the appetites are restrained, checked by the temperate mind, and all the impulses of the body are bridled by reason.

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4Mac.2

[1]

And why is it amazing that the desires of the mind for the enjoyment of beauty are rendered powerless?
[2] It is for this reason, certainly, that the temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.
[3] For when he was young and in his prime for intercourse, by his reason he nullified the frenzy of the passions.
[4] Not only is reason proved to rule over the frenzied urge of sexual desire, but also over every desire.
[5] Thus the law says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
[6] In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires.

Just so it is with the emotions that hinder one from justice.
[7] Otherwise how could it be that someone who is habitually a solitary gormandizer, a glutton, or even a drunkard can learn a better way, unless reason is clearly lord of the emotions?
[8] Thus, as soon as a man adopts a way of life in accordance with the law, even though he is a lover of money, he is forced to act contrary to his natural ways and to lend without interest to the needy and to cancel the debt when the seventh year arrives.
[9] If one is greedy, he is ruled by the law through his reason so that he neither gleans his harvest nor gathers the last grapes from the vineyard.

In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.
[10] For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.
[11] It is superior to love for one’s wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.
[12] It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.
[13] It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.
[14] Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.
[15]

It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice.
[16] For the temperate mind repels all these malicious emotions, just as it repels anger — for it is sovereign over even this.
[17] When Moses was angry with Dathan and Abiram he did nothing against them in anger, but controlled his anger by reason.
[18] For, as I have said, the temperate mind is able to get the better of the emotions, to correct some, and to render others powerless.
[19] Why else did Jacob, our most wise father, censure the households of Simeon and Levi for their irrational slaughter of the entire tribe of the Shechemites, saying, “Cursed be their anger”?
[20] For if reason could not control anger, he would not have spoken thus.
[21] Now when God fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations,
[22] but at the same time he enthroned the mind among the senses as a sacred governor over them all.
[23] To the mind he gave the law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous.
[24]

How is it then, one might say, that if reason is master of the emotions, it does not control forgetfulness and ignorance?

 

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4Mac.3

[1] This notion is entirely ridiculous; for it is evident that reason rules not over its own emotions, but over those of the body.
[2] No one of us can eradicate that kind of desire, but reason can provide a way for us not to be enslaved by desire.
[3] No one of us can eradicate anger from the mind, but reason can help to deal with anger.
[4] No one of us can eradicate malice, but reason can fight at our side so that we are not overcome by malice.
[5] For reason does not uproot the emotions but is their antagonist.
[6]

Now this can be explained more clearly by the story of King David’s thirst.
[7] David had been attacking the Philistines all day long, and together with the soldiers of his nation had slain many of them.
[8] Then when evening fell, he came, sweating and quite exhausted, to the royal tent, around which the whole army of our ancestors had encamped.
[9] Now all the rest were at supper,
[10] but the king was extremely thirsty, and although springs were plentiful there, he could not satisfy his thirst from them.
[11] But a certain irrational desire for the water in the enemy’s territory tormented and inflamed him, undid and consumed him.
[12] When his guards complained bitterly because of the king’s craving, two staunch young soldiers, respecting the king’s desire, armed themselves fully, and taking a pitcher climbed over the enemy’s ramparts.
[13] Eluding the sentinels at the gates, they went searching throughout the enemy camp
[14] and found the spring, and from it boldly brought the king a drink.
[15] But David, although he was burning with thirst, considered it an altogether fearful danger to his soul to drink what was regarded as equivalent to blood.
[16] Therefore, opposing reason to desire, he poured out the drink as an offering to God.
[17] For the temperate mind can conquer the drives of the emotions and quench the flames of frenzied desires;
[18] it can overthrow bodily agonies even when they are extreme, and by nobility of reason spurn all domination by the emotions.
[19]

The present occasion now invites us to a narrative demonstration of temperate reason.
[20]

At a time when our fathers were enjoying profound peace because of their observance of the law and were prospering, so that even Seleucus Nicanor, king of Asia, had both appropriated money to them for the temple service and recognized their commonwealth —
[21] just at that time certain men attempted a revolution against the public harmony and caused many and various disasters.

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4Mac.4

[1]

Now there was a certain Simon, a political opponent of the noble and good man, Onias, who then held the high priesthood for life. When despite all manner of slander he was unable to injure Onias in the eyes of the nation, he fled the country with the purpose of betraying it.
[2] So he came to Apollonius, governor of Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia, and said,
[3] “I have come here because I am loyal to the king’s government, to report that in the Jerusalem treasuries there are deposited tens of thousands in private funds, which are not the property of the temple but belong to King Seleucus.”
[4] When Apollonius learned the details of these things, he praised Simon for his service to the king and went up to Seleucus to inform him of the rich treasure.
[5] On receiving authority to deal with this matter, he proceeded quickly to our country accompanied by the accursed Simon and a very strong military force.
[6] He said that he had come with the king’s authority to seize the private funds in the treasury.
[7] The people indignantly protested his words, considering it outrageous that those who had committed deposits to the sacred treasury should be deprived of them, and did all that they could to prevent it.
[8] But, uttering threats, Apollonius went on to the temple.
[9] While the priests together with women and children were imploring God in the temple to shield the holy place that was being treated so contemptuously,
[10] and while Apollonius was going up with his armed forces to seize the money, angels on horseback with lightning flashing from their weapons appeared from heaven, instilling in them great fear and trembling.
[11] Then Apollonius fell down half dead in the temple area that was open to all, stretched out his hands toward heaven, and with tears besought the Hebrews to pray for him and propitiate the wrath of the heavenly army.
[12] For he said that he had committed a sin deserving of death, and that if he were delivered he would praise the blessedness of the holy place before all people.
[13] Moved by these words, Onias the high priest, although otherwise he had scruples about doing so, prayed for him lest King Seleucus suppose that Apollonius had been overcome by human treachery and not by divine justice.
[14] So Apollonius, having been preserved beyond all expectations, went away to report to the king what had happened to him.
[15]

When King Seleucus died, his son Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded to the throne, an arrogant and terrible man,
[16] who removed Onias from the priesthood and appointed Onias’s brother Jason as high priest.
[17] Jason agreed that if the office were conferred upon him he would pay the king three thousand six hundred and sixty talents annually.
[18] So the king appointed him high priest and ruler of the nation.
[19] Jason changed the nation’s way of life and altered its form of government in complete violation of the law,
[20] so that not only was a gymnasium constructed at the very citadel of our native land, but also the temple service was abolished.
[21] The divine justice was angered by these acts and caused Antiochus himself to make war on them.
[22] For when he was warring against Ptolemy in Egypt, he heard that a rumor of his death had spread and that the people of Jerusalem had rejoiced greatly. He speedily marched against them,
[23] and after he had plundered them he issued a decree that if any of them should be found observing the ancestral law they should die.
[24] When, by means of his decrees, he had not been able in any way to put an end to the people’s observance of the law, but saw that all his threats and punishments were being disregarded,
[25] even to the point that women, because they had circumcised their sons, were thrown headlong from heights along with their infants, though they had known beforehand that they would suffer this —
[26] when, then, his decrees were despised by the people, he himself, through torture, tried to compel everyone in the nation to eat defiling foods and to renounce Judaism.

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4Mac.5

[1]

The tyrant Antiochus, sitting in state with his counselors on a certain high place, and with his armed soldiers standing about him,
[2] ordered the guards to seize each and every Hebrew and to compel them to eat pork and food sacrificed to idols.
[3] If any were not willing to eat defiling food, they were to be broken on the wheel and killed.
[4] And when many persons had been rounded up, one man, Eleazar by name, leader of the flock, was brought before the king. He was a man of priestly family, learned in the law, advanced in age, and known to many in the tyrant’s court because of his philosophy.
[5]

When Antiochus saw him he said,
[6] “Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork,
[7] for I respect your age and your gray hairs. Although you have had them for so long a time, it does not seem to me that you are a philosopher when you observe the religion of the Jews.
[8] Why, when nature has granted it to us, should you abhor eating the very excellent meat of this animal?
[9] It is senseless not to enjoy delicious things that are not shameful, and wrong to spurn the gifts of nature.
[10] It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt.
[11] Will you not awaken from your foolish philosophy, dispel your futile reasonings, adopt a mind appropriate to your years, philosophize according to the truth of what is beneficial,
[12] and have compassion on your old age by honoring my humane advice?
[13] For consider this, that if there is some power watching over this religion of yours, it will excuse you from any transgression that arises out of compulsion.”
[14]

When the tyrant urged him in this fashion to eat meat unlawfully, Eleazar asked to have a word.
[15] When he had received permission to speak, he began to address the people as follows:
[16] “We, O Antiochus, who have been persuaded to govern our lives by the divine law, think that there is no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law.
[17] Therefore we consider that we should not transgress it in any respect.
[18] Even if, as you suppose, our law were not truly divine and we had wrongly held it to be divine, not even so would it be right for us to invalidate our reputation for piety.
[19] Therefore do not suppose that it would be a petty sin if we were to eat defiling food;
[20] to transgress the law in matters either small or great is of equal seriousness,
[21] for in either case the law is equally despised.
[22] You scoff at our philosophy as though living by it were irrational,
[23] but it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it also trains us in courage, so that we endure any suffering willingly;
[24] it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealings we act impartially, and it teaches us piety, so that with proper reverence we worship the only real God.
[25]

“Therefore we do not eat defiling food; for since we believe that the law was established by God, we know that in the nature of things the Creator of the world in giving us the law has shown sympathy toward us.
[26] He has permitted us to eat what will be most suitable for our lives, but he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be contrary to this.
[27] It would be tyrannical for you to compel us not only to transgress the law, but also to eat in such a way that you may deride us for eating defiling foods, which are most hateful to us.
[28] But you shall have no such occasion to laugh at me,
[29] nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my ancestors concerning the keeping of the law,
[30] not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my entrails.
[31] I am not so old and cowardly as not to be young in reason on behalf of piety.
[32] Therefore get your torture wheels ready and fan the fire more vehemently!
[33] I do not so pity my old age as to break the ancestral law by my own act.
[34] I will not play false to you, O law that trained me, nor will I renounce you, beloved self-control.
[35] I will not put you to shame, philosophical reason, nor will I reject you, honored priesthood and knowledge of the law.
[36] You, O king, shall not stain the honorable mouth of my old age, nor my long life lived lawfully.
[37] The fathers will receive me as pure, as one who does not fear your violence even to death.
[38] You may tyrannize the ungodly, but you shall not dominate my religious principles either by word or by deed.”

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4Mac.6

[1]

When Eleazar in this manner had made eloquent response to the exhortations of the tyrant, the guards who were standing by dragged him violently to the instruments of torture.
[2] First they stripped the old man, who remained adorned with the gracefulness of his piety.
[3] And after they had tied his arms on each side they scourged him,
[4] while a herald opposite him cried out, “Obey the king’s commands!”
[5] But the courageous and noble man, as a true Eleazar, was unmoved, as though being tortured in a dream;
[6] yet while the old man’s eyes were raised to heaven, his flesh was being torn by scourges, his blood flowing, and his sides were being cut to pieces.
[7] And though he fell to the ground because his body could not endure the agonies, he kept his reason upright and unswerving.
[8] One of the cruel guards rushed at him and began to kick him in the side to make him get up again after he fell.
[9] But he bore the pains and scorned the punishment and endured the tortures.
[10] And like a noble athlete the old man, while being beaten, was victorious over his torturers;
[11] in fact, with his face bathed in sweat, and gasping heavily for breath, he amazed even his torturers by his courageous spirit.
[12]

At that point, partly out of pity for his old age,
[13] partly out of sympathy from their acquaintance with him, partly out of admiration for his endurance, some of the king’s retinue came to him and said,
[14] “Eleazar, why are you so irrationally destroying yourself through these evil things?
[15] We will set before you some cooked meat; save yourself by pretending to eat pork.”
[16]

But Eleazar, as though more bitterly tormented by this counsel, cried out:
[17] “May we, the children of Abraham, never think so basely that out of cowardice we feign a role unbecoming to us!
[18] For it would be irrational if we, who have lived in accordance with truth to old age and have maintained in accordance with law the reputation of such a life, should now change our course
[19] become a pattern of impiety to the young, in becoming an example of the eating of defiling food.
[20] It would be shameful if we should survive for a little while and during that time be a laughing stock to all for our cowardice,
[21] and if we should be despised by the tyrant as unmanly, and not protect our divine law even to death.
[22] Therefore, O children of Abraham, die nobly for your religion!
[23] And you, guards of the tyrant, why do you delay?”
[24]

When they saw that he was so courageous in the face of the afflictions, and that he had not been changed by their compassion, the guards brought him to the fire.
[25] There they burned him with maliciously contrived instruments, threw him down, and poured stinking liquids into his nostrils.
[26] When he was now burned to his very bones and about to expire, he lifted up his eyes to God and said,
[27] “You know, O God, that though I might have saved myself, I am dying in burning torments for the sake of the law.
[28] Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them.
[29] Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs.”
[30] And after he said this, the holy man died nobly in his tortures, and by reason he resisted even to the very tortures of death for the sake of the law.
[31]

Admittedly, then, devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
[32] For if the emotions had prevailed over reason, we would have testified to their domination.
[33] But now that reason has conquered the emotions, we properly attribute to it the power to govern.
[34] And it is right for us to acknowledge the dominance of reason when it masters even external agonies. It would be ridiculous to deny it.
[35] And I have proved not only that reason has mastered agonies, but also that it masters pleasures and in no respect yields to them.

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4Mac.7

[1]

For like a most skilful pilot, the reason of our father Eleazar steered the ship of religion over the sea of the emotions,
[2] and though buffeted by the stormings of the tyrant and overwhelmed by the mighty waves of tortures,
[3] in no way did he turn the rudder of religion until he sailed into the haven of immortal victory.
[4] No city besieged with many ingenious war machines has ever held out as did that most holy man. Although his sacred life was consumed by tortures and racks, he conquered the besiegers with the shield of his devout reason.
[5] For in setting his mind firm like a jutting cliff, our father Eleazar broke the maddening waves of the emotions.
[6] O priest, worthy of the priesthood, you neither defiled your sacred teeth nor profaned your stomach, which had room only for reverence and purity, by eating defiling foods.
[7] O man in harmony with the law and philosopher of divine life!
[8] Such should be those who are administrators of the law, shielding it with their own blood and noble sweat in sufferings even to death.
[9] You, father, strengthened our loyalty to the law through your glorious endurance, and you did not abandon the holiness which you praised, but by your deeds you made your words of divine philosophy credible.
[10] O aged man, more powerful than tortures; O elder, fiercer than fire; O supreme king over the passions, Eleazar!
[11] For just as our father Aaron, armed with the censer, ran through the multitude of the people and conquered the fiery angel,
[12] so the descendant of Aaron, Eleazar, though being consumed by the fire, remained unmoved in his reason.
[13] Most amazing, indeed, though he was an old man, his body no longer tense and firm, his muscles flabby, his sinews feeble, he became young again
[14] in spirit through reason; and by reason like that of Isaac he rendered the many-headed rack ineffective.
[15] O man of blessed age and of venerable gray hair and of law-abiding life, whom the faithful seal of death has perfected!
[16]

If, therefore, because of piety an aged man despised tortures even to death, most certainly devout reason is governor of the emotions.
[17] Some perhaps might say, “Not every one has full command of his emotions, because not every one has prudent reason.”
[18] But as many as attend to religion with a whole heart, these alone are able to control the passions of the flesh,
[19] since they believe that they, like our patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, do not die to God, but live in God.
[20] No contradiction therefore arises when some persons appear to be dominated by their emotions because of the weakness of their reason.
[21] What person who lives as a philosopher by the whole rule of philosophy, and trusts in God,
[22] and knows that it is blessed to endure any suffering for the sake of virtue, would not be able to overcome the emotions through godliness?
[23] For only the wise and courageous man is lord of his emotions.

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4Mac.8

[1]

For this is why even the very young, by following a philosophy in accordance with devout reason, have prevailed over the most painful instruments of torture.
[2] For when the tyrant was conspicuously defeated in his first attempt, being unable to compel an aged man to eat defiling foods, then in violent rage he commanded that others of the Hebrew captives be brought, and that any who ate defiling food should be freed after eating, but if any were to refuse, these should be tortured even more cruelly.
[3]

When the tyrant had given these orders, seven brothers — handsome, modest, noble, and accomplished in every way — were brought before him along with their aged mother.
[4] When the tyrant saw them, grouped about their mother as if in a chorus, he was pleased with them. And struck by their appearance and nobility, he smiled at them, and summoned them nearer and said,
[5] “Young men, I admire each and every one of you in a kindly manner, and greatly respect the beauty and the number of such brothers. Not only do I advise you not to display the same madness as that of the old man who has just been tortured, but I also exhort you to yield to me and enjoy my friendship.
[6] Just as I am able to punish those who disobey my orders, so I can be a benefactor to those who obey me.
[7] Trust me, then, and you will have positions of authority in my government if you will renounce the ancestral tradition of your national life.
[8] And enjoy your youth by adopting the Greek way of life and by changing your manner of living.
[9] But if by disobedience you rouse my anger, you will compel me to destroy each and every one of you with dreadful punishments through tortures.
[10] Therefore take pity on yourselves. Even I, your enemy, have compassion for your youth and handsome appearance.
[11] Will you not consider this, that if you disobey, nothing remains for you but to die on the rack?”
[12]

When he had said these things, he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward so as to persuade them out of fear to eat the defiling food.
[13] And when the guards had placed before them wheels and joint-dislocators, rack and hooks and catapults and caldrons, braziers and thumbscrews and iron claws and wedges and bellows, the tyrant resumed speaking:
[14] “Be afraid, young fellows, and whatever justice you revere will be merciful to you when you transgress under compulsion.”
[15]

But when they had heard the inducements and saw the dreadful devices, not only were they not afraid, but they also opposed the tyrant with their own philosophy, and by their right reasoning nullified his tyranny.
[16] Let us consider, on the other hand, what arguments might have been used if some of them had been cowardly and unmanly. Would they not have been these?
[17] “O wretches that we are and so senseless! Since the king has summoned and exhorted us to accept kind treatment if we obey him,
[18] why do we take pleasure in vain resolves and venture upon a disobedience that brings death?
[19] O men and brothers, should we not fear the instruments of torture and consider the threats of torments, and give up this vain opinion and this arrogance that threatens to destroy us?
[20] Let us take pity on our youth and have compassion on our mother’s age;
[21] and let us seriously consider that if we disobey we are dead!
[22] Also, divine justice will excuse us for fearing the king when we are under compulsion.
[23] Why do we banish ourselves from this most pleasant life and deprive ourselves of this delightful world?
[24] Let us not struggle against compulsion nor take hollow pride in being put to the rack.
[25] Not even the law itself would arbitrarily slay us for fearing the instruments of torture.
[26] Why does such contentiousness excite us and such a fatal stubbornness please us, when we can live in peace if we obey the king?”
[27]

But the youths, though about to be tortured, neither said any of these things nor even seriously considered them.
[28] For they were contemptuous of the emotions and sovereign over agonies,
[29] so that as soon as the tyrant had ceased counseling them to eat defiling food, all with one voice together, as from one mind, said:

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4Mac.9

[1]

“Why do you delay, O tyrant? For we are ready to die rather than transgress our ancestral commandments;
[2] we are obviously putting our forefathers to shame unless we should practice ready obedience to the law and to Moses our counselor.
[3] Tyrant and counselor of lawlessness, in your hatred for us do not pity us more than we pity ourselves.
[4] For we consider this pity of yours which insures our safety through transgression of the law to be more grievous than death itself.
[5] You are trying to terrify us by threatening us with death by torture, as though a short time ago you learned nothing from Eleazar.
[6] And if the aged men of the Hebrews because of their religion lived piously while enduring torture, it would be even more fitting that we young men should die despising your coercive tortures, which our aged instructor also overcame.
[7] Therefore, tyrant, put us to the test; and if you take our lives because of our religion, do not suppose that you can injure us by torturing us.
[8] For we, through this severe suffering and endurance, shall have the prize of virtue and shall be with God, for whom we suffer;
[9] but you, because of your bloodthirstiness toward us, will deservedly undergo from the divine justice eternal torment by fire.”
[10]

When they had said these things the tyrant not only was angry, as at those who are disobedient, but also was enraged, as at those who are ungrateful.
[11] Then at his command the guards brought forward the eldest, and having torn off his tunic, they bound his hands and arms with thongs on each side.
[12] When they had worn themselves out beating him with scourges, without accomplishing anything, they placed him upon the wheel.
[13] When the noble youth was stretched out around this, his limbs were dislocated,
[14] and though broken in every member he denounced the tyrant, saying,
[15] “Most abominable tyrant, enemy of heavenly justice, savage of mind, you are mangling me in this manner, not because I am a murderer, or as one who acts impiously, but because I protect the divine law.”
[16] And when the guards said, “Agree to eat so that you may be released from the tortures,”
[17] he replied, “You abominable lackeys, your wheel is not so powerful as to strangle my reason. Cut my limbs, burn my flesh, and twist my joints.
[18] Through all these tortures I will convince you that sons of the Hebrews alone are invincible where virtue is concerned.”
[19] While he was saying these things, they spread fire under him, and while fanning the flames they tightened the wheel further.
[20] The wheel was completely smeared with blood, and the heap of coals was being quenched by the drippings of gore, and pieces of flesh were falling off the axles of the machine.
[21] Although the ligaments joining his bones were already severed, the courageous youth, worthy of Abraham, did not groan,
[22] but as though transformed by fire into immortality he nobly endured the rackings.
[23] “Imitate me, brothers,” he said. “Do not leave your post in my struggle or renounce our courageous brotherhood.
[24] Fight the sacred and noble battle for religion. Thereby the just Providence of our ancestors may become merciful to our nation and take vengeance on the accursed tyrant.”
[25] When he had said this, the saintly youth broke the thread of life.
[26]

While all were marveling at his courageous spirit, the guards brought in the next eldest, and after fitting themselves with iron gauntlets having sharp hooks, they bound him to the torture machine and catapult.
[27] Before torturing him, they inquired if he were willing to eat, and they heard this noble decision.
[28] These leopard-like beasts tore out his sinews with the iron hands, flayed all his flesh up to his chin, and tore away his scalp. But he steadfastly endured this agony and said,
[29] “How sweet is any kind of death for the religion of our fathers!”
[30] To the tyrant he said, “Do you not think, you most savage tyrant, that you are being tortured more than I, as you see the arrogant design of your tyranny being defeated by our endurance for the sake of religion?
[31] I lighten my pain by the joys that come from virtue,
[32] but you suffer torture by the threats that come from impiety. You will not escape, most abominable tyrant, the judgments of the divine wrath.”

---

4Mac.10

[1]

When he too had endured a glorious death, the third was led in, and many repeatedly urged him to save himself by tasting the meat.
[2] But he shouted, “Do you not know that the same father begot me and those who died, and the same mother bore me, and that I was brought up on the same teachings?
[3] I do not renounce the noble kinship that binds me to my brothers.”
[4]
[5] Enraged by the man’s boldness, they disjointed his hands and feet with their instruments, dismembering him by prying his limbs from their sockets,
[6] and breaking his fingers and arms and legs and elbows.
[7] Since they were not able in any way to break his spirit, they abandoned the instruments and scalped him with their fingernails in a Scythian fashion.
[8] They immediately brought him to the wheel, and while his vertebrae were being dislocated upon it he saw his own flesh torn all around and drops of blood flowing from his entrails.
[9] When he was about to die, he said,
[10] “We, most abominable tyrant, are suffering because of our godly training and virtue,
[11] but you, because of your impiety and bloodthirstiness, will undergo unceasing torments.”
[12]

When he also had died in a manner worthy of his brothers, they dragged in the fourth, saying,
[13] “As for you, do not give way to the same insanity as your brothers, but obey the king and save yourself.”
[14] But he said to them, “You do not have a fire hot enough to make me play the coward.
[15] No, by the blessed death of my brothers, by the eternal destruction of the tyrant, and by the everlasting life of the pious, I will not renounce our noble brotherhood.
[16] Contrive tortures, tyrant, so that you may learn from them that I am a brother to those who have just been tortured.”
[17] When he heard this, the bloodthirsty, murderous, and utterly abominable Antiochus gave orders to cut out his tongue.
[18] But he said, “Even if you remove my organ of speech, God hears also those who are mute.
[19] See, here is my tongue; cut it off, for in spite of this you will not make our reason speechless.
[20] Gladly, for the sake of God, we let our bodily members be mutilated.
[21] God will visit you swiftly, for you are cutting out a tongue that has been melodious with divine hymns.”

---

4Mac.11

[1]

When this one died also, after being cruelly tortured, the fifth leaped up, saying,
[2] “I will not refuse, tyrant, to be tortured for the sake of virtue.
[3] I have come of my own accord, so that by murdering me you will incur punishment from the heavenly justice for even more crimes.
[4] Hater of virtue, hater of mankind, for what act of ours are you destroying 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 deeds deserve honors, not tortures.”
[7]
[9] While he was saying these things, the guards bound him and dragged him to the catapult;
[10] they tied him to it on his knees, and fitting iron clamps on them, they twisted his back around the wedge on the wheel, so that he was completely curled back like a scorpion, and all his members were disjointed.
[11] In this condition, gasping for breath and in anguish of body,
[12] he said, “Tyrant, they are splendid favors that you grant us against your will, because through these noble sufferings you give us an opportunity to show our endurance for the law.”
[13]

After he too had died, the sixth, a mere boy, was led in. When the tyrant inquired whether he was willing to eat and be released, he said,
[14] “I am younger in age than my brothers, but I am their equal in mind.
[15] Since to this end we were born and bred, we ought likewise to die for the same principles.
[16] So if you intend to torture me for not eating defiling foods, go on torturing!”
[17] When he had said this, they led him to the wheel.
[18] He was carefully stretched tight upon it, his back was broken, and he was roasted from underneath.
[19] To his back they applied sharp spits that had been heated in the fire, and pierced his ribs so that his entrails were burned through.
[20] While being tortured he said, “O contest befitting holiness, in which so many of us brothers have been summoned to an arena of sufferings for religion, and in which we have not been defeated!
[21] For religious knowledge, O tyrant, is invincible.
[22] I also, equipped with nobility, will die with my brothers,
[23] and I myself will bring a great avenger upon you, you inventor of tortures and enemy of those who are truly devout.
[24] We six boys have paralyzed your tyranny!
[25] Since you have not been able to persuade us to change our mind or to force us to eat defiling foods, is not this your downfall?
[26] Your fire is cold to us, and the catapults painless, and your violence powerless.
[27] For it is not the guards of the tyrant but those of the divine law that are set over us; therefore, unconquered, we hold fast to reason.”

---

4Mac.12

[1]

When he also, thrown into the caldron, had died a blessed death, the seventh and youngest of all came forward.
[2] Even though the tyrant had been fearfully reproached by the brothers, he felt strong compassion for this child when he saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to console him, saying,
[3] “You see the result of your brothers’ stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience.
[4] You too, if you do not obey, will be miserably tortured and die before your time,
[5] but if you yield to persuasion you will be my friend and a leader in the government of the kingdom.”
[6] When he had so pleaded, he sent for the boy’s mother to show compassion on her who had been bereaved of so many sons and to influence her to persuade the surviving son to obey and save himself.
[7] But when his mother had exhorted him in the Hebrew language, as we shall tell a little later,
[8] he said, “Let me loose, let me speak to the king and to all his friends that are with him.”
[9] Extremely pleased by the boy’s declaration, they freed him at once.
[10] Running to the nearest of the braziers,
[11] he said, “You profane tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, since you have received good things and also your kingdom from God, were you not ashamed to murder his servants and torture on the wheel those who practice religion?
[12] Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go.
[13] As a man, were you not ashamed, you most savage beast, to cut out the tongues of men who have feelings like yours and are made of the same elements as you, and to maltreat and torture them in this way?
[14] Surely they by dying nobly fulfilled their service to God, but you will wail bitterly for having slain without cause the contestants for virtue.”
[15] Then because he too was about to die, he said,
[16] “I do not desert the excellent example of my brothers,
[17] and I call on the God of our fathers to be merciful to our nation;
[18] but on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead.”
[19] After he had uttered these imprecations, he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life.

---

4Mac.13

[1]

Since, then, the seven brothers despised sufferings even unto death, everyone must concede that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
[2] For if they had been slaves to their emotions and had eaten defiling food, we would say that they had been conquered by these emotions.
[3] But in fact it was not so. Instead, by reason, which is praised before God, they prevailed over their emotions.
[4] The supremacy of the mind over these cannot be overlooked, for the brothers mastered both emotions and pains.
[5] How then can one fail to confess the sovereignty of right reason over emotion in those who were not turned back by fiery agonies?
[6] For just as towers jutting out over harbors hold back the threatening waves and make it calm for those who sail into the inner basin,
[7] so the seven-towered right reason of the youths, by fortifying the harbor of religion, conquered the tempest of the emotions.
[8] For they constituted a holy chorus of religion and encouraged one another, saying,
[9] “Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace.
[10] Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety.”
[11] While one said, “Courage, brother,” another said, “Bear up nobly,”
[12] and another reminded them, “Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of religion.”
[13] Each of them and all of them together looking at one another, cheerful and undaunted, said, “Let us with all our hearts consecrate ourselves to God, who gave us our lives, and let us use our bodies as a bulwark for the law.
[14] Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us,
[15] for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God.
[16] Therefore let us put on the full armor of self-control, which is divine reason.
[17] For if we so die, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all the fathers will praise us.”
[18] Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, “Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us.”
[19]

You are not ignorant of the affection of brotherhood, which the divine and all-wise Providence has bequeathed through the fathers to their descendants and which was implanted in the mother’s womb.
[20] There each of the brothers dwelt the same length of time and was shaped during the same period of time; and growing from the same blood and through the same life, they were brought to the light of day.
[21] When they were born after an equal time of gestation, they drank milk from the same fountains. For such embraces brotherly-loving souls are nourished;
[22] and they grow stronger from this common nurture and daily companionship, and from both general education and our discipline in the law of God.
[23]

Therefore, when sympathy and brotherly affection had been so established, the brothers were the more sympathetic to one another.
[24] Since they had been educated by the same law and trained in the same virtues and brought up in right living, they loved one another all the more.
[25] A common zeal for nobility expanded their goodwill and harmony toward one another,
[26] because, with the aid of their religion, they rendered their brotherly love more fervent.
[27] But although nature and companionship and virtuous habits had augmented the affection of brotherhood, those who were left endured for the sake of religion, while watching their brothers being maltreated and tortured to death.

---

4Mac.14

[1] Furthermore, they encouraged them to face the torture, so that they not only despised their agonies, but also mastered the emotions of brotherly love.
[2]

O reason, more royal than kings and freer than the free!
[3] O sacred and harmonious concord of the seven brothers on behalf of religion!
[4] None of the seven youths proved coward or shrank from death,
[5] but all of them, as though running the course toward immortality, hastened to death by torture.
[6] Just as the hands and feet are moved in harmony with the guidance of the mind, so those holy youths, as though moved by an immortal spirit of devotion, agreed to go to death for its sake.
[7] O most holy seven, brothers in harmony! For just as the seven days of creation move in choral dance around religion,
[8] so these youths, forming a chorus, encircled the sevenfold fear of tortures and dissolved it.
[9] Even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the tribulations of these young men; they not only saw what was happening, yes, not only heard the direct word of threat, but also bore the sufferings patiently, and in agonies of fire at that.
[10] What could be more excruciatingly painful than this? For the power of fire is intense and swift, and it consumed their bodies quickly.
[11]

Do not consider it amazing that reason had full command over these men in their tortures, since the mind of woman despised even more diverse agonies,
[12] for the mother of the seven young men bore up under the rackings of each one of her children.
[13]

Observe how complex is a mother’s love for her children, which draws everything toward an emotion felt in her inmost parts.
[14] Even unreasoning animals, like mankind, have a sympathy and parental love for their offspring.
[15] For example, among birds, the ones that are tame protect their young by building on the housetops,
[16] and the others, by building in precipitous chasms and in holes and tops of trees, hatch the nestlings and ward off the intruder.
[17] If they are not able to keep him away, they do what they can to help their young by flying in circles around them in the anguish of love, warning them with their own calls.
[18] And why is it necessary to demonstrate sympathy for children by the example of unreasoning animals,
[19] since even bees at the time for making honeycombs defend themselves against intruders as though with an iron dart sting those who approach their hive and defend it even to the death?
[20] But sympathy for her children did not sway the mother of the young men; she was of the same mind as Abraham.

---

4Mac.15

[1]

O reason of the children, tyrant over the emotions! O religion, more desirable to the mother than her children!
[2] Two courses were open to this mother, that of religion, and that of preserving her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised.
[3] She loved religion more, religion that preserves them for eternal life according to God’s promise.
[4] In what manner might I express the emotions of parents who love their children? We impress upon the character of a small child a wondrous likeness both of mind and of form. Especially is this true of mothers, who because of their birthpangs have a deeper sympathy toward their offspring than do the fathers.
[5] Considering that mothers are the weaker sex and give birth to many, they are more devoted to their children.
[6] The mother of the seven boys, more than any other mother, loved her children. In seven pregnancies she had implanted in herself tender love toward them,
[7] and because of the many pains she suffered with each of them she had sympathy for them;
[8] yet because of the fear of God she disdained the temporary safety of her children.
[9] Not only so, but also because of the nobility of her sons and their ready obedience to the law she felt a greater tenderness toward them.
[10] For they were righteous and self-controlled and brave and magnanimous, and loved their brothers and their mother, so that they obeyed her even to death in keeping the ordinances.
[11] Nevertheless, though so many factors influenced the mother to suffer with them out of love for her children, in the case of none of them were the various tortures strong enough to pervert her reason.
[12] Instead, the mother urged them on, each child singly and all together, to death for the sake of religion.
[13] O sacred nature and affection of parental love, yearning of parents toward offspring, nurture and indomitable suffering by mothers!
[14] This mother, who saw them tortured and burned one by one, because of religion did not change her attitude.
[15] She watched the flesh of her children consumed by fire, their toes and fingers scattered on the ground, and the flesh of the head to the chin exposed like masks.
[16] O mother, tried now by more bitter pains than even the birth-pangs you suffered for them!
[17] O woman, who alone gave birth to such complete devotion!
[18] When the first-born breathed his last it did not turn you aside, nor when the second in torments looked at you piteously nor when the third expired;
[19] nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one in his tortures gazing boldly at the same agonies, and saw in their nostrils the signs of the approach of death.
[20] When you saw the flesh of children burned upon the flesh of other children, severed hands upon hands, scalped heads upon heads, and corpses fallen on other corpses and when you saw the place filled with many spectators of the torturings, you did not shed tears.
[21] Neither the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the attention of their hearers as did the voices of the children in torture calling to their mother.
[22] How great and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons!
[23] But devout reason, giving her heart a man’s courage in the very midst of her emotions, strengthened her to disregard her temporal love for her children.
[24]

Although she witnessed the destruction of seven children and the ingenious and various rackings, this noble mother disregarded all these because of faith in God.
[25] For as in the council chamber of her own soul she saw mighty advocates — nature, family, parental love, and the rackings of her children —
[26] this mother held two ballots, one bearing death and the other deliverance for her children.
[27] She did not approve the deliverance which would preserve the seven sons for a short time,
[28] but as the daughter of God-fearing Abraham she remembered his fortitude.
[29]

O mother of the nation, vindicator of the law and champion of religion, who carried away the prize of the contest in your heart!
[30] O more noble than males in steadfastness, and more manly than men in endurance!
[31] Just as Noah’s ark, carrying the world in the universal flood, stoutly endured the waves,
[32] so you, O guardian of the law, overwhelmed from every side by the flood of your emotions and the violent winds, the torture of your sons, endured nobly and withstood the wintry storms that assail religion.

---

4Mac.16

[1]

If, then, a woman, advanced in years and mother of seven sons, endured seeing her children tortured to death, it must be admitted that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
[2] Thus I have demonstrated not only that men have ruled over the emotions, but also that a woman has despised the fiercest tortures.
[3] The lions surrounding Daniel were not so savage, nor was the raging fiery furnace of Mishael so intensely hot, as was her innate parental love, inflamed as she saw her seven sons tortured in such varied ways.
[4] But the mother quenched so many and such great emotions by devout reason.
[5]

Consider this also. If this woman, though a mother, had been fainthearted, she would have mourned over them and perhaps spoken as follows:
[6] “O how wretched am I and many times unhappy! After bearing seven children, I am now the mother of none!
[7] O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings!
[8] In vain, my sons, I endured many birth-pangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing.
[9] Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring. I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother.
[10] Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows.
[11] Nor when I die, shall I have any of my sons to bury me.”
[12]

Yet the sacred and God-fearing mother did not wail with such a lament for any of them, nor did she dissuade any of them from dying, nor did she grieve as they were dying,
[13] but, as though having a mind like adamant and giving rebirth for immortality to the whole number of her sons, she implored them and urged them on to death for the sake of religion.
[14] O mother, soldier of God in the cause of religion, elder and woman! By steadfastness you have conquered even a tyrant, and in word and deed you have proved more powerful than a man.
[15] For when you and your sons were arrested together, you stood and watched Eleazar being tortured, and said to your sons in the Hebrew language,
[16] “My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law.
[17] For it would be shameful if, while an aged man endures such agonies for the sake of religion, you young men were to be terrified by tortures.
[18] Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life,
[19] and therefore you ought to endure any suffering for the sake of God.
[20] For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and when Isaac saw his father’s hand wielding a sword and descending upon him, he did not cower.
[21] And Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God.
[22] You too must have the same faith in God and not be grieved.
[23] It is unreasonable for people who have religious knowledge not to withstand pain.”
[24]

By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God’s commandment.
[25] They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live in God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.

---

4Mac.17

[1]

Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body.
[2]

O mother, who with your seven sons nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the courage of your faith!
[3] Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures.
[4] Take courage, therefore, O holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God.
[5] The moon in heaven, with the stars, does not stand so august as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them.
[6] For your children were true descendants of father Abraham.
[7]

If it were possible for us to paint the history of your piety as an artist might, would not those who first beheld it have shuddered as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of religion?
[8] Indeed it would be proper to inscribe upon their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation:
[9]

“Here lie buried an aged priest and an aged woman and seven sons, because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews.
[10] They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring torture even to death.”
[11]

Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine,
[12] for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life.
[13] Eleazar was the first contestant, the mother of the seven sons entered the competition, and the brothers contended.
[14] The tyrant was the antagonist, and the world and the human race were the spectators.
[15] Reverence for God was victor and gave the crown to its own athletes.
[16] Who did not admire the athletes of the divine legislation? Who were not amazed?
[17]

The tyrant himself and all his council marveled at their endurance,
[18] because of which they now stand before the divine throne and live through blessed eternity.
[19] For Moses says, “All who are consecrated are under your hands.”
[20] These, then, who have been consecrated for the sake of God, are honored, not only with this honor, but also by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation,
[21] the tyrant was punished, and the homeland purified — they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation.
[22] And through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an expiation, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been afflicted.
[23]

For the tyrant Antiochus, when he saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under the tortures, proclaimed them to his soldiers as an example for their own endurance,
[24] and this made them brave and courageous for infantry battle and siege, and he ravaged and conquered all his enemies.

---

4Mac.18

[1]

O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way,
[2] knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without.
[3]

Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by men, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance.
[4] Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy.
[5] The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.
[6]

The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children:
[7] “I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father’s house; but I guarded the rib from which woman was made.
[8] No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity.
[9] In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A happy man was he, who lived out his life with good children, and did not have the grief of bereavement.
[10] While he was still with you, he taught you the law and the prophets.
[11] He read to you about Abel slain by Cain, and Isaac who was offered as a burnt offering, and of Joseph in prison.
[12] He told you of the zeal of Phineas, and he taught you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire.
[13] He praised Daniel in the den of the lions and blessed him.
[14] He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah, which says, `Even though you go through the fire, the flame shall not consume you.’
[15] He sang to you songs of the psalmist David, who said, `Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’
[16] He recounted to you Solomon’s proverb, `There is a tree of life for those who do his will.’
[17] He confirmed the saying of Ezekiel, `Shall these dry bones live?’
[18] For he did not 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.'”
[20]

O bitter was that day — and yet not bitter — when that bitter tyrant of the Greeks quenched fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, and in his burning rage brought those seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapult and back again to more tortures,
[21] pierced the pupils of their eyes and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures.
[22] For these crimes divine justice pursued and will pursue the accursed tyrant.
[23] But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers, and have received pure and immortal souls from God,
[24] to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

3Mac.1

[1] When Philopator learned from those who returned that the regions which he had controlled had been seized by Antiochus, he gave orders to all his forces, both infantry and cavalry, took with him his sister Arsinoe, and marched out to the region near Raphia, where Antiochus’s supporters were encamped.
[2] But a certain Theodotus, determined to carry out the plot he had devised, took with him the best of the Ptolemaic arms that had been previously issued to him, and crossed over by night to the tent of Ptolemy, intending single-handed to kill him and thereby end the war.
[3] But Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions, had led the king away and arranged that a certain insignificant man should sleep in the tent; and so it turned out that this man incurred the vengeance meant for the king.
[4] When a bitter fight resulted, and matters were turning out rather in favor of Antiochus, Arsinoe went to the troops with wailing and tears, her locks all disheveled, and exhorted them to defend themselves and their children and wives bravely, promising to give them each two minas of gold if they won the battle.
[5] And so it came about that the enemy was routed in the action, and many captives also were taken.
[6] Now that he had foiled the plot, Ptolemy decided to visit the neighboring cities and encourage them.
[7] By doing this, and by endowing their sacred enclosures with gifts, he strengthened the morale of his subjects.
[8]

Since the Jews had sent some of their council and elders to greet him, to bring him gifts of welcome, and to congratulate him on what had happened, he was all the more eager to visit them as soon as possible.
[9] After he had arrived in Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice to the supreme God and made thank-offerings and did what was fitting for the holy place. Then, upon entering the place and being impressed by its excellence and its beauty,
[10] he marveled at the good order of the temple, and conceived a desire to enter the holy of holies.
[11] When they said that this was not permitted, because not even members of their own nation were allowed to enter, nor even all of the priests, but only the high priest who was pre-eminent over all, and he only once a year, the king was by no means persuaded.
[12] Even after the law had been read to him, he did not cease to maintain that he ought to enter, saying, “Even if those men are deprived of this honor, I ought not to be.”
[13] And he inquired why, when he entered every other temple, no one there had stopped him.
[14] And someone heedlessly said that it was wrong to take this as a sign in itself.
[15] “But since this has happened,” the king said, “why should not I at least enter, whether they wish it or not?”
[16]

Then the priests in all their vestments prostrated themselves and entreated the supreme God to aid in the present situation and to avert the violence of this evil design, and they filled the temple with cries and tears;
[17] and those who remained behind in the city were agitated and hurried out, supposing that something mysterious was occurring.
[18] The virgins who had been enclosed in their chambers rushed out with their mothers, sprinkled their hair with dust, and filled the streets with groans and lamentations.
[19] Those women who had recently been arrayed for marriage abandoned the bridal chambers prepared for wedded union, and, neglecting proper modesty, in a disorderly rush flocked together in the city.
[20] Mothers and nurses abandoned even newborn children here and there, some in houses and some in the streets, and without a backward look they crowded together at the most high temple.
[21] Various were the supplications of those gathered there because of what the king was profanely plotting.
[22] In addition, the bolder of the citizens would not tolerate the completion of his plans or the fulfillment of his intended purpose.
[23] They shouted to their fellows to take arms and die courageously for the ancestral law, and created a considerable disturbance in the holy place; and being barely restrained by the old men and the elders, they resorted to the same posture of supplication as the others.
[24] Meanwhile the crowd, as before, was engaged in prayer,
[25] while the elders near the king tried in various ways to change his arrogant mind from the plan that he had conceived.
[26] But he, in his arrogance, took heed of nothing, and began now to approach, determined to bring the aforesaid plan to a conclusion.
[27] When those who were around him observed this, they turned, together with our people, to call upon him who has all power to defend them in the present trouble and not to overlook this unlawful and haughty deed.
[28] The continuous, vehement, and concerted cry of the crowds resulted in an immense uproar;
[29] for it seemed that not only the men but also the walls and the whole earth around echoed, because indeed all at that time preferred death to the profanation of the place.

---

3Mac.2

[1]

Then the high priest Simon, facing the sanctuary, bending his knees and extending his hands with calm dignity, prayed as follows:
[2] “Lord, Lord, king of the heavens, and sovereign of all creation, holy among the holy ones, the only ruler, almighty, give attention to us who are suffering grievously from an impious and profane man, puffed up in his audacity and power.
[3] For you, the creator of all things and the governor of all, are a just Ruler, and you judge those who have done anything in insolence and arrogance.
[4] You destroyed those who in the past committed injustice, among whom were even giants who trusted in their strength and boldness, whom you destroyed by bringing upon them a boundless flood.
[5] You consumed with fire and sulphur the men of Sodom who acted arrogantly, who were notorious for their vices; and you made them an example to those who should come afterward.
[6] You made known your mighty power by inflicting many and varied punishments on the audacious Pharaoh who had enslaved your holy people Israel.
[7] And when he pursued them with chariots and a mass of troops, you overwhelmed him in the depths of the sea, but carried through safely those who had put their confidence in you, the Ruler over the whole creation.
[8] And when they had seen works of your hands, they praised you, the Almighty.
[9] You, O King, when you had created the boundless and immeasurable earth, chose this city and sanctified this place for your name, though you have no need of anything; and when you had glorified it by your magnificent manifestation, you made it a firm foundation for the glory of your great and honored name.
[10] And because you love the house of Israel, you promised that if we should have reverses, and tribulation should overtake us, you would listen to our petition when we come to this place and pray.
[11] And indeed you are faithful and true.
[12] And because oftentimes when our fathers were oppressed you helped them in their humiliation, and rescued them from great evils,
[13] see now, O holy King, that because of our many and great sins we are crushed with suffering, subjected to our enemies, and overtaken by helplessness.
[14] In our downfall this audacious and profane man undertakes to violate the holy place on earth dedicated to your glorious name.
[15] For your dwelling, the heaven of heavens, is unapproachable by man.
[16] But because you graciously bestowed your glory upon your people Israel, you sanctified this place.
[17] Do not punish us for the defilement committed by these men, or call us to account for this profanation, lest the transgressors boast in their wrath or exult in the arrogance of their tongue, saying,
[18] `We have trampled down the house of the sanctuary as offensive houses are trampled down.’
[19] Wipe away our sins and disperse our errors, and reveal your mercy at this hour.
[20] Speedily let your mercies overtake us, and put praises in the mouth of those who are downcast and broken in spirit, and give us peace.”
[21]

Thereupon God, who oversees all things, the first Father of all, holy among the holy ones, having heard the lawful supplication, scourged him who had exalted himself in insolence and audacity.
[22] He shook him on this side and that as a reed is shaken by the wind, so that he lay helpless on the ground and, besides being paralyzed in his limbs, was unable even to speak, since he was smitten by a righteous judgment.
[23] Then both friends and bodyguards, seeing the severe punishment that had overtaken him, and fearing lest he should lose his life, quickly dragged him out, panic-stricken in their exceedingly great fear.
[24] After a while he recovered, and though he had been punished, he by no means repented, but went away uttering bitter threats.
[25]

When he arrived in Egypt, he increased in his deeds of malice, abetted by the previously mentioned drinking companions and comrades, who were strangers to everything just.
[26] He was not content with his uncounted licentious deeds, but he also continued with such audacity that he framed evil reports in the various localities; and many of his friends, intently observing the king’s purpose, themselves also followed his will.
[27] He proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription:
[28] “None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death;
[29] those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status.”
[30] In order that he might not appear to be an enemy to all, he inscribed below: “But if any of them prefer to join those who have been initiated into the mysteries, they shall have equal citizenship with the Alexandrians.”
[31]

Now some, however, with an obvious abhorrence of the price to be exacted for maintaining the religion of their city, readily gave themselves up, since they expected to enhance their reputation by their future association with the king.
[32] But the majority acted firmly with a courageous spirit and did not depart from their religion; and by paying money in exchange for life they confidently attempted to save themselves from the registration.
[33] They remained resolutely hopeful of obtaining help, and they abhorred those who separated themselves from them, considering them to be enemies of the Jewish nation, and depriving them of common fellowship and mutual help.

---

3Mac.3

[1]

When the impious king comprehended this situation, he became so infuriated that not only was he enraged against those Jews who lived in Alexandria, but was still more bitterly hostile toward those in the countryside; and he ordered that all should promptly be gathered into one place, and put to death by the most cruel means.
[2] While these matters were being arranged, a hostile rumor was circulated against the Jewish nation by men who conspired to do them ill, a pretext being given by a report that they hindered others from the observance of their customs.
[3] The Jews, however, continued to maintain good will and unswerving loyalty toward the dynasty;
[4] but because they worshiped God and conducted themselves by his law, they kept their separateness with respect to foods. For this reason they appeared hateful to some;
[5] but since they adorned their style of life with the good deeds of upright people, they were established in good repute among all men.
[6] Nevertheless those of other races paid no heed to their good service to their nation, which was common talk among all;
[7] instead they gossiped about the differences in worship and foods, alleging that these people were loyal neither to the king nor to his authorities, but were hostile and greatly opposed to his government. So they attached no ordinary reproach to them.
[8]

The Greeks in the city, though wronged in no way, when they saw an unexpected tumult around these people and the crowds that suddenly were forming, were not strong enough to help them, for they lived under tyranny. They did try to console them, being grieved at the situation, and expected that matters would change;
[9] for such a great community ought not be left to its fate when it had committed no offense.
[10] And already some of their neighbors and friends and business associates had taken some of them aside privately and were pledging to protect them and to exert more earnest efforts for their assistance.
[11]

Then the king, boastful of his present good fortune, and not considering the might of the supreme God, but assuming that he would persevere constantly in his same purpose, wrote this letter against them:
[12] “King Ptolemy Philopator to his generals and soldiers in Egypt and all its districts, greetings and good health.
[13] I myself and our government are faring well.
[14] When our expedition took place in Asia, as you yourselves know, it was brought to conclusion, according to plan, by the gods’ deliberate alliance with us in battle,
[15] and we considered that we should not rule the nations inhabiting Coele-Syria and Phoenicia by the power of the spear but should cherish them with clemency and great benevolence, gladly treating them well.
[16] And when we had granted very great revenues to the temples in the cities, we came on to Jerusalem also, and went up to honor the temple of those wicked people, who never cease from their folly.
[17] They accepted our presence by word, but insincerely by deed, because when we proposed to enter their inner temple and honor it with magnificent and most beautiful offerings,
[18] they were carried away by their traditional conceit, and excluded us from entering; but they were spared the exercise of our power because of the benevolence which we have toward all.
[19] By maintaining their manifest ill-will toward us, they become the only people among all nations who hold their heads high in defiance of kings and their own benefactors, and are unwilling to regard any action as sincere.
[20]

“But we, when we arrived in Egypt victorious, accommodated ourselves to their folly and did as was proper, since we treat all nations with benevolence.
[21] Among other things, we made known to all our amnesty toward their compatriots here, both because of their alliance with us and the myriad affairs liberally entrusted to them from the beginning; and we ventured to make a change, by deciding both to deem them worthy of Alexandrian citizenship and to make them participants in our regular religious rites.
[22] But in their innate malice they took this in a contrary spirit, and disdained what is good. Since they incline constantly to evil,
[23] they not only spurn the priceless citizenship, but also both by speech and by silence they abominate those few among them who are sincerely disposed toward us; in every situation, in accordance with their infamous way of life, they secretly suspect that we may soon alter our policy.
[24] Therefore, fully convinced by these indications that they are ill-disposed toward us in every way, we have taken precautions lest, if a sudden disorder should later arise against us, we should have these impious people behind our backs as traitors and barbarous enemies.
[25] Therefore we have given orders that, as soon as this letter shall arrive, you are to send to us those who live among you, together with their wives and children, with insulting and harsh treatment, and bound securely with iron fetters, to suffer the sure and shameful death that befits enemies.
[26] For when these all have been punished, we are sure that for the remaining time the government will be established for ourselves in good order and in the best state.
[27] But whoever shelters any of the Jews, old people or children or even infants, will be tortured to death with the most hateful torments, together with his family.
[28] Any one willing to give information will receive the property of the one who incurs the punishment, and also two thousand drachmas from the royal treasury, and will be awarded his freedom.
[29] Every place detected sheltering a Jew is to be made unapproachable and burned with fire, and shall become useless for all time to any mortal creature.”
[30] The letter was written in the above form.

---

3Mac.4

[1]

In every place, then, where this decree arrived, a feast at public expense was arranged for the Gentiles with shouts and gladness, for the inveterate enmity which had long ago been in their minds was now made evident and outspoken.
[2] But among the Jews there was incessant mourning, lamentation, and tearful cries; everywhere their hearts were burning, and they groaned because of the unexpected destruction that had suddenly been decreed for them.
[3] What district or city, or what habitable place at all, or what streets were not filled with mourning and wailing for them?
[4] For with such a harsh and ruthless spirit were they being sent off, all together, by the generals in the several cities, that at the sight of their unusual punishments, even some of their enemies, perceiving the common object of pity before their eyes, reflected upon the uncertainty of life and shed tears at the most miserable expulsion of these people.
[5] For a multitude of gray-headed old men, sluggish and bent with age, was being led away, forced to march at a swift pace by the violence with which they were driven in such a shameful manner.
[6] And young women who had just entered the bridal chamber to share married life exchanged joy for wailing, their myrrh-perfumed hair sprinkled with ashes, and were carried away unveiled, all together raising a lament instead of a wedding song, as they were torn by the harsh treatment of the heathen.
[7] In bonds and in public view they were violently dragged along as far as the place of embarkation.
[8] Their husbands, in the prime of youth, their necks encircled with ropes instead of garlands, spent the remaining days of their marriage festival in lamentations instead of good cheer and youthful revelry, seeing death immediately before them.
[9] They were brought on board like wild animals, driven under the constraint of iron bonds; some were fastened by the neck to the benches of the boats, others had their feet secured by unbreakable fetters,
[10] and in addition they were confined under a solid deck, so that with their eyes in total darkness, they should undergo treatment befitting traitors during the whole voyage.
[11]

When these men had been brought to the place called Schedia, and the voyage was concluded as the king had decreed, he commanded that they should be enclosed in the hippodrome which had been built with a monstrous perimeter wall in front of the city, and which was well suited to make them an obvious spectacle to all coming back into the city and to those from the city going out into the country, so that they could neither communicate with the king’s forces nor in any way claim to be inside the circuit of the city.
[12] And when this had happened, the king, hearing that the Jews’ compatriots from the city frequently went out in secret to lament bitterly the ignoble misfortune of their brothers,
[13] ordered in his rage that these men be dealt with in precisely the same fashion as the others, not omitting any detail of their punishment.
[14] The entire race was to be registered individually, not for the hard labor that has been briefly mentioned before, but to be tortured with the outrages that he had ordered, and at the end to be destroyed in the space of a single day.
[15] The registration of these people was therefore conducted with bitter haste and zealous intentness from the rising of the sun till its setting, and though uncompleted it stopped after forty days.
[16]

The king was greatly and continually filled with joy, organizing feasts in honor of all his idols, with a mind alienated from truth and with a profane mouth, praising speechless things that are not able even to communicate or to come to one’s help, and uttering improper words against the supreme God.
[17] But after the previously mentioned interval of time the scribes declared to the king that they were no longer able to take the census of the Jews because of their innumerable multitude,
[18] although most of them were still in the country, some still residing in their homes, and some at the place; the task was impossible for all the generals in Egypt.
[19] After he had threatened them severely, charging that they had been bribed to contrive a means of escape, he was clearly convinced about the matter
[20] when they said and proved that both the paper and the pens they used for writing had already given out.
[21] But this was an act of the invincible providence of him who was aiding the Jews from heaven.

---

3Mac.5

[1]

Then the king, completely inflexible, was filled with overpowering anger and wrath; so he summoned Hermon, keeper of the elephants,
[2] and ordered him on the following day to drug all the elephants — five hundred in number — with large handfuls of frankincense and plenty of unmixed wine, and to drive them in, maddened by the lavish abundance of liquor, so that the Jews might meet their doom.
[3] When he had given these orders he returned to his feasting, together with those of his friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews.
[4] And Hermon, keeper of the elephants, proceeded faithfully to carry out the orders.
[5] The servants in charge of the Jews went out in the evening and bound the hands of the wretched people and arranged for their continued custody through the night, convinced that the whole nation would experience its final destruction.
[6] For to the Gentiles it appeared that the Jews were left without any aid,
[7] because in their bonds they were forcibly confined on every side. But with tears and a voice hard to silence they all called upon the Almighty Lord and Ruler of all power, their merciful God and Father, praying
[8] that he avert with vengeance the evil plot against them and in a glorious manifestation rescue them from the fate now prepared for them.
[9] So their entreaty ascended fervently to heaven.
[10]

Hermon, however, when he had drugged the pitiless elephants until they had been filled with a great abundance of wine and satiated with frankincense, presented himself at the courtyard early in the morning to report to the king about these preparations.
[11] But the Lord sent upon the king a portion of sleep, that beneficence which from the beginning, night and day, is bestowed by him who grants it to whomever he wishes.
[12] And by the action of the Lord he was overcome by so pleasant and deep a sleep that he quite failed in his lawless purpose and was completely frustrated in his inflexible plan.
[13] Then the Jews, since they had escaped the appointed hour, praised their holy God and again begged him who is easily reconciled to show the might of his all-powerful hand to the arrogant Gentiles.
[14]

But now, since it was nearly the middle of the tenth hour, the person who was in charge of the invitations, seeing that the guests were assembled, approached the king and nudged him.
[15] And when he had with difficulty roused him, he pointed out that the hour of the banquet was already slipping by, and he gave him an account of the situation.
[16] The king, after considering this, returned to his drinking, and ordered those present for the banquet to recline opposite him.
[17] When this was done he urged them to give themselves over to revelry and to make the present portion of the banquet joyful by celebrating all the more.
[18] After the party had been going on for some time, the king summoned Hermon and with sharp threats demanded to know why the Jews had been allowed to remain alive through the present day.
[19] But when he, with the corroboration of his friends, pointed out that while it was still night he had carried out completely the order given him,
[20] the king, possessed by a savagery worse than that of Phalaris, said that the Jews were benefited by today’s sleep, “but,” he added, “tomorrow without delay prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews!”
[21] When the king had spoken, all those present readily and joyfully with one accord gave their approval, and each departed to his own home.
[22] But they did not so much employ the duration of the night in sleep as in devising all sorts of insults for those they thought to be doomed.
[23]

Then, as soon as the cock had crowed in the early morning, Hermon, having equipped the beasts, began to move them along in the great colonnade.
[24] The crowds of the city had been assembled for this most pitiful spectacle and they were eagerly waiting for daybreak.
[25] But the Jews, at their last gasp, since the time had run out, stretched their hands toward heaven and with most tearful supplication and mournful dirges implored the supreme God to help them again at once.
[26] The rays of the sun were not yet shed abroad, and while the king was receiving his friends, Hermon arrived and invited him to come out, indicating that what the king desired was ready for action.
[27] But he, upon receiving the report and being struck by the unusual invitation to come out — since he had been completely overcome by incomprehension — inquired what the matter was for which this had been so zealously completed for him.
[28] This was the act of God who rules over all things, for he had implanted in the king’s mind a forgetfulness of the things he had previously devised.
[29] Then Hermon and all the king’s friends pointed out that the beasts and the armed forces were ready, “O king, according to your eager purpose.”
[30] But at these words he was filled with an overpowering wrath, because by the providence of God his whole mind had been deranged in regard to these matters; and with a threatening look he said,
[31] “Were your parents or children present, I would have prepared them to be a rich feast for the savage beasts instead of the Jews, who give me no ground for complaint and have exhibited to an extraordinary degree a full and firm loyalty to my ancestors.
[32] In fact you would have been deprived of life instead of these, were it not for an affection arising from our nurture in common and your usefulness.”
[33] So Hermon suffered an unexpected and dangerous threat, and his eyes wavered and his face fell.
[34] The king’s friends one by one sullenly slipped away and dismissed the assembled people, each to his own occupation.
[35] Then the Jews, upon hearing what the king had said, praised the manifest Lord God, King of kings, since this also was his aid which they had received.
[36]

The king, however, reconvened the party in the same manner and urged the guests to return to their celebrating.
[37] After summoning Hermon he said in a threatening tone, “How many times, you poor wretch, must I give you orders about these things?
[38] Equip the elephants now once more for the destruction of the Jews tomorrow!”
[39] But the officials who were at table with him, wondering at his instability of mind, remonstrated as follows:
[40] “O king, how long will you try us, as though we are idiots, ordering now for a third time that they be destroyed, and again revoking your decree in the matter?
[41] As a result the city is in a tumult because of its expectation; it is crowded with masses of people, and also in constant danger of being plundered.”
[42] Upon this the king, a Phalaris in everything and filled with madness, took no account of the changes of mind which had come about within him for the protection of the Jews, and he firmly swore an irrevocable oath that he would send them to death without delay, mangled by the knees and feet of the beasts,
[43] and would also march against Judea and rapidly level it to the ground with fire and spear, and by burning to the ground the temple inaccessible to him would quickly render it forever empty of those who offered sacrifices there.
[44] Then the friends and officers departed with great joy, and they confidently posted the armed forces at the places in the city most favorable for keeping guard.
[45] Now when the beasts had been brought virtually to a state of madness, so to speak, by the very fragrant draughts of wine mixed with frankincense and had been equipped with frightful devices, the elephant keeper
[46] entered at about dawn into the courtyard — the city now being filled with countless masses of people crowding their way into the hippodrome — and urged the king on to the matter at hand.
[47] So he, when he had filled his impious mind with a deep rage, rushed out in full force along with the beasts, wishing to witness, with invulnerable heart and with his own eyes, the grievous and pitiful destruction of the aforementioned people.
[48] And when the Jews saw the dust raised by the elephants going out at the gate and by the following armed forces, as well as by the trampling of the crowd, and heard the loud and tumultuous noise,
[49] they thought that this was their last moment of life, the end of their most miserable suspense, and giving way to lamentation and groans they kissed each other, embracing relatives and falling into one another’s arms — parents and children, mothers and daughters, and others with babies at their breasts who were drawing their last milk.
[50] Not only this, but when they considered the help which they had received before from heaven they prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground, removing the babies from their breasts,
[51] and cried out in a very loud voice, imploring the Ruler over every power to manifest himself and be merciful to them, as they stood now at the gates of death.

---

3Mac.6

[1]

Then a certain Eleazar, famous among the priests of the country, who had attained a ripe old age and throughout his life had been adorned with every virtue, directed the elders around him to cease calling upon the holy God and prayed as follows:
[2] “King of great power, Almighty God Most High, governing all creation with mercy,
[3] look upon the descendants of Abraham, O Father, upon the children of the sainted Jacob, a people of your consecrated portion who are perishing as foreigners in a foreign land.
[4] Pharaoh with his abundance of chariots, the former ruler of this Egypt, exalted with lawless insolence and boastful tongue, you destroyed together with his arrogant army by drowning them in the sea, manifesting the light of your mercy upon the nation of Israel.
[5] Sennacherib exulting in his countless forces, oppressive king of the Assyrians, who had already gained control of the whole world by the spear and was lifted up against your holy city, speaking grievous words with boasting and insolence, you, O Lord, broke in pieces, showing your power to many nations.
[6] The three companions in Babylon who had voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames so as not to serve vain things, you rescued unharmed, even to a hair, moistening the fiery furnace with dew and turning the flame against all their enemies.
[7] Daniel, who through envious slanders was cast down into the ground to lions as food for wild beasts, you brought up to the light unharmed.
[8] And Jonah, wasting away in the belly of a huge, sea-born monster, you, Father, watched over and restored unharmed to all his family.
[9] And now, you who hate insolence, all-merciful and protector of all, reveal yourself quickly to those of the nation of Israel — who are being outrageously treated by the abominable and lawless Gentiles.
[10] Even if our lives have become entangled in impieties in our exile, rescue us from the hand of the enemy, and destroy us, Lord, by whatever fate you choose.
[11] Let not the vain-minded praise their vanities at the destruction of your beloved people, saying, `Not even their god has rescued them.’
[12] But you, O Eternal One, who have all might and all power, watch over us now and have mercy upon us who by the senseless insolence of the lawless are being deprived of life in the manner of traitors.
[13] And let the Gentiles cower today in fear of your invincible might, O honored One, who have power to save the nation of Jacob.
[14] The whole throng of infants and their parents entreat you with tears.
[15] Let it be shown to all the Gentiles that you are with us, O Lord, and have not turned your face from us; but just as you have said, `Not even when they were in the land of their enemies did I neglect them,’ so accomplish it, O Lord.”
[16]

Just as Eleazar was ending his prayer, the king arrived at the hippodrome with the beasts and all the arrogance of his forces.
[17] And when the Jews observed this they raised great cries to heaven so that even the nearby valleys resounded with them and brought an uncontrollable terror upon the army.
[18] Then the most glorious, almighty, and true God revealed his holy face and opened the heavenly gates, from which two glorious angels of fearful aspect descended, visible to all but the Jews.
[19] They opposed the forces of the enemy and filled them with confusion and terror, binding them with immovable shackles.
[20] Even the king began to shudder bodily, and he forgot his sullen insolence.
[21] The beasts turned back upon the armed forces following them and began trampling and destroying them.
[22] Then the king’s anger was turned to pity and tears because of the things that he had devised beforehand.
[23] For when he heard the shouting and saw them all fallen headlong to destruction, he wept and angrily threatened his friends, saying,
[24] “You are committing treason and surpassing tyrants in cruelty; and even me, your benefactor, you are now attempting to deprive of dominion and life by secretly devising acts of no advantage to the kingdom.
[25] Who is it that has taken each man from his home and senselessly gathered here those who faithfully have held the fortresses of our country?
[26] Who is it that has so lawlessly encompassed with outrageous treatment those who from the beginning differed from all nations in their goodwill toward us and often have accepted willingly the worst of human dangers?
[27] Loose and untie their unjust bonds! Send them back to their homes in peace, begging pardon for your former actions!
[28] Release the sons of the almighty and living God of heaven, who from the time of our ancestors until now has granted an unimpeded and notable stability to our government.”
[29] These then were the things he said; and the Jews, immediately released, praised their holy God and Savior, since they now had escaped death.
[30]

Then the king, when he had returned to the city, summoned the official in charge of the revenues and ordered him to provide to the Jews both wines and everything else needed for a festival of seven days, deciding that they should celebrate their rescue with all joyfulness in that same place in which they had expected to meet their destruction.
[31] Accordingly those disgracefully treated and near to death, or rather, who stood at its gates, arranged for a banquet of deliverance instead of a bitter and lamentable death, and full of joy they apportioned to celebrants the place which had been prepared for their destruction and burial.
[32] They ceased their chanting of dirges and took up the song of their fathers, praising God, their Savior and worker of wonders. Putting an end to all mourning and wailing, they formed choruses as a sign of peaceful joy.
[33] Likewise also the king, after convening a great banquet to celebrate these events, gave thanks to heaven unceasingly and lavishly for the unexpected rescue which he had experienced.
[34] And those who had previously believed that the Jews would be destroyed and become food for birds, and had joyfully registered them, groaned as they themselves were overcome by disgrace, and their fire-breathing boldness was ignominiously quenched.
[35] But the Jews, when they had arranged the aforementioned choral group, as we have said before, passed the time in feasting to the accompaniment of joyous thanksgiving and psalms.
[36] And when they had ordained a public rite for these things in their whole community and for their descendants, they instituted the observance of the aforesaid days as a festival, not for drinking and gluttony, but because of the deliverance that had come to them through God.
[37] Then they petitioned the king, asking for dismissal to their homes.
[38] So their registration was carried out from the twenty-fifth of Pachon to the fourth of Epeiph, for forty days; and their destruction was set for the fifth to the seventh of Epeiph, the three days
[39] on which the Lord of all most gloriously revealed his mercy and rescued them all together and unharmed.
[40] Then they feasted, provided with everything by the king, until the fourteenth day, on which also they made the petition for their dismissal.
[41] The king granted their request at once and wrote the following letter for them to the generals in the cities, magnanimously expressing his concern:

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3Mac.7

[1]

“King Ptolemy Philopator to the generals in Egypt and all in authority in his government, greetings and good health.
[2] We ourselves and our children are faring well, the great God guiding our affairs according to our desire.
[3] Certain of our friends, frequently urging us with malicious intent, persuaded us to gather together the Jews of the kingdom in a body and to punish them with barbarous penalties as traitors;
[4] for they declared that our government would never be firmly established until this was accomplished, because of the ill-will which these people had toward all nations.
[5] They also led them out with harsh treatment as slaves, or rather as traitors, and, girding themselves with a cruelty more savage than that of Scythian custom, they tried without any inquiry or examination to put them to death.
[6] But we very severely threatened them for these acts, and in accordance with the clemency which we have toward all men we barely spared their lives. Since we have come to realize that the God of heaven surely defends the Jews, always taking their part as a father does for his children,
[7] and since we have taken into account the friendly and firm goodwill which they had toward us and our ancestors, we justly have acquitted them of every charge of whatever kind.
[8] We also have ordered each and every one to return to his own home, with no one in any place doing them harm at all or reproaching them for the irrational things that have happened.
[9] For you should know that if we devise any evil against them or cause them any grief at all, we always shall have not man but the Ruler over every power, the Most High God, in everything and inescapably as an antagonist to avenge such acts. Farewell.”
[10]

Upon receiving this letter the Jews did not immediately hurry to make their departure, but they requested of the king that at their own hands those of the Jewish nation who had willfully transgressed against the holy God and the law of God should receive the punishment they deserved.
[11] For they declared that those who for the belly’s sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favorably disposed toward the king’s government.
[12] The king then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general license so that freely and without royal authority or supervision they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God.
[13] When they had applauded him in fitting manner, their priests and the whole multitude shouted the Hallelujah and joyfully departed.
[14] And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled.
[15] In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners.
[16] But those who had held fast to God even to death and had received the full enjoyment of deliverance began their departure from the city, crowned with all sorts of very fragrant flowers, joyfully and loudly giving thanks to the one God of their fathers, the eternal Savior of Israel, in words of praise and all kinds of melodious songs.
[17]

When they had arrived at Ptolemais, called “rose-bearing” because of a characteristic of the place, the fleet waited for them, in accord with the common desire, for seven days.
[18] There they celebrated their deliverance, for the king had generously provided all things to them for their journey, to each as far as his own house.
[19] And when they had landed in peace with appropriate thanksgiving, there too in like manner they decided to observe these days as a joyous festival during the time of their stay.
[20] Then, after inscribing them as holy on a pillar and dedicating a place of prayer at the site of the festival, they departed unharmed, free, and overjoyed, since at the king’s command they had been brought safely by land and sea and river each to his own place.
[21] They also possessed greater prestige among their enemies, being held in honor and awe; and they were not subject at all to confiscation of their belongings by any one.
[22] Besides they all recovered all of their property, in accordance with the registration, so that those who held any restored it to them with extreme fear. So the supreme God perfectly performed great deeds for their deliverance.
[23] Blessed be the Deliverer of Israel through all times! Amen.