4 Maccabees, Chapter 18

¹O Israelitish children, descendants of the seed of Abraham, obey this law, and in every way be religious. ²Knowing that religious reasoning is lord of the passions, and those not only inward but outward. ³Whence those persons giving up their bodies to pains for the sake of religion, were not only admired by men, but were deemed worthy of a divine portion. ⁴And the nation through them obtained peace, and having renewed the observance of the law in their country, drove the enemy out of the land. ⁵And the tyrant Antiochus was both punished upon earth, and is punished now he is dead; for when he was quite unable to compel the Israelites to adopt foreign customs, and to desert the manner of life of their fathers, ⁶then, departing from Jerusalem, he made war against the Persians. ⁷And the righteous mother of the seven children spake also as follows to her offspring: I was a pure virgin, and went not beyond my father's house; but I took care of the built-up rib. ⁸No destroyer of the desert, [or] ravisher of the plain, injured me; nor did the destructive, deceitful, snake, make spoil of my chaste virginity; and I remained with my husband during the period of my prime.

⁹And these my children, having arrived at maturity, their father died: blessed was he! for having sought out a life of fertility in children, he was not grieved with a period of loss of children. ¹⁰And he used to teach you, when yet with you, the law and the prophets. ¹¹He used to read to you the slaying of Abel by Cain, and the offering up of Isaac, and the imprisonment of Joseph. ¹²And he used to tell you of the zealous Phinehas; and informed you of Ananias and Azarias, and Misael in the fire. ¹³And he used to glorify Daniel, who was in the den of lions, and pronounce him blessed. ¹⁴And he used to put you in mind of the scripture of Esaias, which saith, Even if thou pass through the fire, it shall not burn thee. ¹⁵He chanted to you David, the hymn-writer, who saith, Many are the afflictions of the just. ¹⁶He declared the proverbs of Solomon, who saith, He is a tree of life to all those who do His will.

¹⁷He used to verify Ezekiel, who said, Shall these dry bones live? ¹⁸For he did not forget the song which Moses taught, proclaiming, I will kill, and I will make to live. ¹⁹This is our life, and the length of our days. ²⁰O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the bitter tyrant of the Greeks, quenching fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapelt, and to all his torments! ²¹He pierced the balls of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with varied tortures. ²²Wherefore divine retribution pursued and will pursue the pestilent wretch. ²³But the children of Abraham, with their victorious mother, are assembled together to the choir of their fathers; having received pure and immortal souls from God. ²⁴To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.