4 Maccabees 17:7-18:5

Common English Bible

⁷ If we had the skill of an artist to paint a picture showing the story of your commitment to God, wouldn’t those who viewed the painting tremble to see a mother enduring the experience of seven children being tortured to death in so many ways?

The martyrs’ achievements

⁸ What would be an appropriate message that could be carved on their tomb to remind our nation’s people? Perhaps these words:

¹¹ The competition in which they were engaged was truly divine. ¹² Moral character itself handed out awards that day, having proved their worth through their endurance. Victory brought immortality through an endless life. ¹³ Eleazar was the first competitor. The mother of the seven children and the brothers competed also. ¹⁴ The tyrant was the opponent, and the world and the human race were the audience. ¹⁵ Respect for God won the day and crowned its champions. ¹⁶ Who wasn’t amazed at the athletes who were competing in the name of the divine Law? Who wasn’t astonished?

¹⁷ The tyrant himself, along with all his political advisors, was amazed at their resistance, ¹⁸ for which they now stand in front of God’s throne and live a blessed life forever. ¹⁹ Moses says, “All those who have set themselves apart for you are in your care.” ²⁰ These people who have dedicated themselves to God are honored, therefore, not only with this privilege but also because they kept our enemies from ruling our nation. ²¹ The tyrant was punished, and our nation was cleansed through them. They exchanged their lives for the nation’s sin. ²² Divine providence delivered Israel from its former abuse through the blood of those godly people. Their deaths were a sacrifice that finds mercy^[a] from God.

²³ When he saw their extraordinary courage and their commitment in the face of torture, the tyrant Antiochus held up their endurance as an example to his own soldiers. ²⁴ This made them dignified and brave when they fought battles or destroyed villages, and so they conquered and raided all of their enemies.

18 Israelite children, all you who are descended from Abraham, obey this Law and worship God in every situation. ² Don’t doubt that godly thinking rules over the emotions. This includes not only desires and the feelings that come from the inside but also the suffering that comes from the outside. ³ Because of this, those who gave up their bodies to suffering for the sake of the godly way of life not only won human admiration but were also judged to be worthy of a divine reward. ⁴ The nation was at peace again because of them. Once obedience to the Law had been revived across the nation, they slaughtered their enemies. ⁵ The tyrant Antiochus was punished on earth, and he continues to be punished after death. By no means could he force the Israelites to adopt a foreign way of life and to change the customs of their ancestors in any way, and so he left Jerusalem and marched out against Persia.