4 Maccabees 9:15-17

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹⁵ ‘Most abominable tyrant, enemy of heavenly justice, savage of mind, you are mangling me in this manner, not because I am a murderer, or as one who acts impiously, but because I protect the divine law.’ ¹⁶ And when the guards said, ‘Agree to eat so that you may be released from the tortures’, ¹⁷ he replied, ‘You abominable lackeys, your wheel is not so powerful as to strangle my reason. Cut my limbs, burn my flesh, and twist my joints;