2 Maccabees 6:18-20

Common English Bible

Martyrs for the faith

¹⁸ A certain Eleazar, one of the leading scribes, elderly in age and with a most dignified outward appearance, was being compelled to open his mouth and eat pork. ¹⁹ But preferring death with honor to life with religious defilement, he proceeded voluntarily to the torture instrument, ²⁰ spitting out the meat. In this he showed how everyone ought to stand fast and reject what isn’t lawful to taste despite the intense desire to live.