2 Maccabees 6-7

Common English Bible

Judaism is outlawed

6 Shortly afterward the king sent out an Athenian elder^[a] to force the Jews to turn away from their ancestral laws and stop living according to God’s laws. ² He was also ordered to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to rename it for Zeus Olympus, and to rename the temple in Mount Gerizim for Zeus, Friend of Strangers,^[b] just as the people living there requested. ³ The onslaught of this evil was severe and hard for all to bear. ⁴ The Gentiles filled the temple with wild partying and sexual indulgence. They were entertaining themselves with prostitutes and having sex with women in the priestly chambers. In addition, they carried in unfit things, ⁵ and the altar was illegally covered with offerings forbidden by the laws. ⁶ It was impossible to keep the Sabbath or the ancestral festivals, or even simply to profess to be a Jew. ⁷ Instead, out of bitter necessity, they had to observe the birthday of the king each month by eating the organs of sacrificial animals. When the Festival of Dionysus arrived, they were forced to take part in a procession honoring Dionysus, holding ivy wreaths. ⁸ At Ptolemais’ suggestion,^[c] a decision was announced to the neighboring Greek cities that they should adopt the same policy against the Jews and that they should be made to eat the sacrificial portions, ⁹ and that those who refused to change to Greek practices should be slaughtered. At that point it was easy to see the miserable state that had arrived. ¹⁰ For instance, they brought forward two women who had circumcised their sons, with their infants hanging from their breasts. They dragged them around the city publicly, then hurled them down from the city wall. ¹¹ Others gathered secretly into caverns nearby to keep the seventh day, but they were betrayed to Philip. They were all burned together because they were reluctant to defend themselves, out of respect for the most sacred day.

¹² So I urge those stumbling upon this scroll not to shrink back because of these misfortunes but to understand that these punishments weren’t for the destruction of our people but for their discipline. ¹³ It is a sign of great kindness that those Jews who acted immorally weren’t left alone for very long but experienced punishments immediately. ¹⁴ With other nations the Lord patiently delays punishment until they fill up the full measure of their sins, but with us he decided to deal differently, and is exacting retribution on us before ¹⁵ our sins reach their peak. ¹⁶ Therefore, he never withdraws his mercy from us. Although disciplining us with misfortunes, God doesn’t forsake his own people. ¹⁷ Only let this be said to us as a reminder. After this brief digression, it is necessary to go on with the narrative.

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.

²¹ But those in charge of the unlawful sacrifice, because they had known the man for a long time, took him aside in private and urged him to bring meat that was lawful, prepared beforehand by himself, and then pretend to eat the meat from the sacrifice that the king commanded. ²² By doing this he might escape death and attain friendly treatment because of his old friendship with them. ²³ But adopting a dignified perspective worthy of his seniority, his distinguished old age and the gray hair he had acquired, and worthy of his excellent conduct from childhood, and, moreover, worthy of the holy and God-created laws, he declared to them to send him to the grave^[d] immediately: ²⁴ “It’s not worthy of our old age to act out such a role. Otherwise, many of the young would assume wrongly that Eleazar the 90-year-old had changed to a foreign way of life. ²⁵ If I acted out this charade for the sake of living a moment longer, I would mislead them, and I would be defiled and dishonored in my old age. ²⁶ Even if I escaped the punishment of human beings for the moment, I would certainly not escape the hands of the almighty—whether alive or dead. ²⁷ So I give up my life courageously now to show myself worthy of my old age, ²⁸ and to leave a fine example for the young people of how to die a good death with eagerness and dignity for the revered and sacred laws.” After he spoke he immediately approached the torture instrument. ^29 [e] Those who had shown goodwill toward him earlier now felt hostility toward him,^[f] because the words he had spoken seemed insane to them. ³⁰ When his life was about to end from the beating, he groaned, “It is clear to the Lord with his sacred knowledge that, although I could have been saved from death, I endure in my body harsh pain from this beating, yet in my soul I cheerfully suffer these things because I respect him.” ³¹ In this manner he died, and his own death left behind a most noble and memorable example of virtue not only for the youth but also for the majority of his nation.

7 There were also seven brothers who were arrested along with their mother. The king was trying to compel them to eat the forbidden pork by torturing them with whips and cords. ² One of them, speaking on behalf of the others, said, “What do you hope to ask and learn from us? We are prepared to die rather than sin against our ancestral laws.” ³ The king became angry and commanded frying pans and cauldrons to be heated. ⁴ As soon as they were hot, he commanded that the one acting as spokesman have his tongue cut out, be scalped, and have his hands and feet cut off while the rest of his brothers and his mother watched. ⁵ After the brother was maimed and utterly helpless, the king commanded him to be brought to the fire and fried alive. Although the smoke from the pan had spread widely, the brothers and their mother encouraged each other to die honorably, saying, ⁶ “The Lord God truly watches over us and will come to our aid. Moses testified to this in his song against them, saying, ‘God will have compassion on his servants.’”^[g]

⁷ After the first brother died in this manner, they led forward the second one with mockery. They ripped off the skin of his head along with the hair and demanded, “Will you eat before every part of your body is punished limb by limb?”

⁸ But he answered in his native language, “Not at all.” Therefore, this brother also received in turn the same punishment as the first. ⁹ With his last breath he said, “You, who are marked out for vengeance, may take our present life, but the king of the universe for whose laws we die will resurrect us again to eternal life.”

¹⁰ After this, the third one was mocked. When it was demanded, he put out his tongue quickly, extended his hands courageously, ¹¹ and stated with dignity, “I have received these limbs from heaven, and I give them up for the sake of God’s laws. But I hope to recover them from God again.” ¹² The king and those with him marveled at the young man’s spirit, since he considered his agonies nothing.

¹³ After this one had died, the tormenters tortured the fourth brother as well. ¹⁴ When the end was approaching, he said, “Death at the hands of humans is preferable, since we look forward to the hope that God gives of being raised by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life.”

¹⁵ Immediately afterward, they led the fifth brother forward and began to torture him. ¹⁶ While looking at the king he said, “You, though human, have power among human beings and do what you want. But don’t think that God has abandoned our people. ¹⁷ Just wait and observe his great strength, when God will torture you and your children.”

¹⁸ After him they brought forward the sixth brother. As he was about to die, he said, “Don’t deceive yourself in vain. We suffer these things because of our own sins against our God. Things worthy of wonder have happened. ¹⁹ But don’t think you will escape unpunished after trying to fight against God.”

²⁰ The mother was particularly amazing and worthy of an honorable memory. She watched her seven sons die in the course of a single day but accepted it with a stout heart because of her hope in the Lord. ²¹ She encouraged each of them in their native language. Filled with noble thoughts, she fired up her womanly reasoning with manly courage, saying to them, ²² “I don’t know how you grew in my womb, nor did I grant the breath of life to you or arrange what makes you who you are. ²³ For this reason, the creator of the world—who brought about the beginning of humanity and searched out the origin of all things—will again mercifully give you both spirit and life, since you disregard yourselves because of his laws.”

²⁴ Antiochus thought that he was being treated with contempt and was suspicious of the tone of her voice. So he appealed to the youngest son, since he was still alive, not only through words but also through solemn pledges. If the young man turned from his ancestral practices, Antiochus promised him, he would make him both rich and prosperous, he would be considered a political advisor,^[h] and he would be entrusted with public affairs. ²⁵ When the young man wouldn’t accept the offer by any means, the king appealed to the mother to counsel the boy to save himself. ²⁶ After a great deal of urging, she agreed to try to persuade her son. ²⁷ By leaning toward her son and mocking the savage tyrant, she spoke in their native language: “Son, pity me who carried you in the womb nine months, nursed you for three years, nurtured you, and brought you into this stage of life with care. ²⁸ I beg you, child, to look at heaven and earth. See everything that is in them and know that God made these things from nothing, and created humankind in the same way. ²⁹ Don’t fear this killer but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death so that in God’s mercy I should recover you with your brothers.”

³⁰ Just at the moment when she finished speaking,^[i] the young man said, “What are you all waiting for? I don’t intend to obey the king’s order, but I hear the command of the Law given to our ancestors through Moses. ³¹ But you, King, who have invented all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will by no means escape God’s power. ³² We are suffering because of our own sins. ³³ If our living Lord is angry for a short time in order to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. ³⁴ But you, unholy man, the most bloodstained of all people, don’t be so proud without having cause. Bloated by futile hope, you raise up your hand against the children of heaven. ³⁵ You haven’t at all escaped the judgment of the almighty God, who oversees all. ³⁶ Now our brothers, who endured pain for a short time, have been given eternal life under God’s covenant, but you will suffer the penalty of your arrogance by the righteous judgment of God. ³⁷ Just like my brothers, I give up both body and life for the ancestral laws. I call upon God to be merciful to the nation without delay, and to make you confess, after you suffer trials and diseases, that only he is God. ³⁸ Also I hope through me and my brothers to stop the anger of the almighty, who is justly punishing our entire nation.” ³⁹ Bitterly annoyed at the young boy’s contempt, the king grew angry and treated him worse than the others. ⁴⁰ And this brother then died with integrity, trusting entirely in the Lord. ⁴¹ Last, after her sons, the mother died.

⁴² So then with regard to the eating of sacrificial meats and the extreme tortures they suffered, let this account be sufficient.