2 Maccabees 6:22-24

New Catholic Bible

²² In this way he would be saved from death and be treated kindly as a result of their long-standing friendship. ²³ But, making an honorable decision, worthy of his years and of the dignity of his advanced age, and of the gray hairs he had attained and worn with distinction, and of his impeccable conduct even from childhood, but worthy above all of the holy law given by God, he told them to dispatch him immediately to the abode of the dead.

²⁴ “At this stage of my life it would be terribly wrong to be a party to such a pretense,” he said, “for many young people would be led to believe that at the age of ninety Eleazar had conformed to a foreign practice.