4 Maccabees 18

¹O Israelite children, descendants of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and in every way be religious, ²knowing that religious reasoning is lord of the emotions, and those not only inward but outward.

³Therefore those people who gave up their bodies to pains for the sake of religion were not only admired by men, but were deemed worthy of a divine portion. ⁴The nation through them obtained peace, and having renewed the observance of the law in their country, drove the enemy out of the land. ⁵The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth, and is punished now that he is dead; for when he was quite unable to compel the Israelites to adopt foreign customs, and to desert the manner of life of their fathers, ⁶then, departing from Jerusalem, he made war against the Persians. ⁷The righteous mother of the seven children spoke also as follows to her offspring: “I was a pure virgin, and didn’t go beyond my father’s house, but I took care of the rib from which woman was made. ⁸No destroyer of the desert or ravisher of the plain injured me, nor did the destructive, deceitful snake make plunder of my chaste virginity. I remained with my husband during the time of my maturity. ⁹When these, my children, arrived at maturity, their father died. He was blessed! For having sought out a life of fertility in children, he was not grieved with a period of loss of children. ¹⁰He used to teach you, when yet with you, the law and the prophets. ¹¹He used to read to you about the slaying of Abel by Cain, the offering up of Isaac, and the imprisonment of Joseph. ¹²He used to tell you of the zealous Phinehas, and informed you of Ananias, Azarias, and Misael in the fire. ¹³He used to glorify Daniel, who was in the den of lions, and pronounce him blessed. ¹⁴He used to remind you of the scripture of Esaias, which says, “Even if you pass through the fire, it won’t burn you.” ¹⁵He chanted to you David, the hymn writer, who says, “Many are the afflictions of the just.” ¹⁶He declared the proverbs of Solomon, who says, “He is a tree of life to all those who do His will.” ¹⁷He used to confirm what Ezekiel said: “Will these dry bones live?” ¹⁸For he didn’t forget the song which Moses taught, proclaiming, “I will kill, and I will make alive.” ¹⁹This is our life and the length of our days.

²⁰O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the bitter tyrant of the Greeks, quenching fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the rack, and to all his torments! ²¹He pierced the balls of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with varied tortures. ²²Therefore divine retribution pursued and will pursue the pestilent wretch. ²³But the children of Abraham, with their victorious mother, are assembled together to the choir of their father, having received pure and immortal souls from God. ²⁴To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.