4 Maccabees 8:12-14

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹² When he had said these things, he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward so as to persuade them out of fear to eat the defiling food. ¹³ When the guards had placed before them wheels and joint-dislocators, rack and hooks^[a] and catapults^[b] and cauldrons, braziers and thumbscrews and iron claws and wedges and bellows, the tyrant resumed speaking: ¹⁴ ‘Be afraid, young fellows; whatever justice you revere will be merciful to you when you transgress under compulsion.’