2 Maccabees 7 It happened also that there were seuen brethren with their mother, taken, and compelled by the king against the lawe to eate swines fleshe, namely with scourges and leatherne whippes.

Bishops⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ It happened also that there were seuen brethren with their mother, taken, and compelled by the king against the lawe to eate swines fleshe, [namely] with scourges and leatherne whippes. ² And one of them, which was the chiefe, saide: What seekest thou, and what requirest thou of vs? As for vs, we are redie rather to suffer death, then to offende the lawes of God and the fathers. ³ Then was the king angry, and bad heate cauldrons & brasen pottes: which when they were made hot, ⁴ Immediately he commaunded the tongue of him that spake first to be cut out, to pull the skin ouer his head, to pare the edges of his handes and feete: yea and that in the sight of his mother and the other of his brethren. ⁵ Now when he was cleane mangled, he comaunded a fire to be made, and so (while there was any breath in him) to be fried in the cauldron: In the which when he had ben long pained, the other brethren, with their mother, exhorted him to dye manfully, saying: ⁶ The Lorde God shall regarde the trueth, and comfort vs, lyke as Moyses testifieth and declareth in his song [saying:] And he wyll haue compassion on his seruauntes. ⁷ So when the first was dead after this maner, they brought the second to haue him in derision, pulled the skinne with the heere ouer his head, and asked him if he would eate swines flesh or he were payned in the other members also throughout his body. ⁸ But he aunswered in his owne language, and said, I wyll not do it: And so he was tormented lyke as the first. ⁹ And when he was euen at the geuing vp of the ghost, he sayd, Thou most vngratious person puttest vs now to death: but the king of the worlde shal rayse vs vp which dye for his lawes, in the resurrection of euerlasting lyfe. ¹⁰ After him was the third had in derision, and when he was required he put out his tongue, and that right soone, holding foorth his handes manfully, ¹¹ And spake with a stedfast faith: These haue I of heaue, but now for the lawes of God I despise them: for my trust is, that I shal receaue them of him againe. ¹² Insomuch that the king & they which were with him, marueyled at the young mans boldnes, that he nothing regarded the paynes. ¹³ Now when he was dead also, they vexed the fourth with tormentes in like maner. ¹⁴ So when he was now at his death, he saide: It is better that we being put to death of men haue our hope & trust in God, for he shall rayse vs vp againe: as for thee, thou shalt haue no resurrection to lyfe. ¹⁵ And when they had spoken to the fifth, they tormented him. ¹⁶ Then loked he vnto the king, and said, Thou hast power among men, for thou art a mortall man also thy selfe to do what thou wylt: but thinke not that God hath forsaken our generation. ¹⁷ Abide thee, tary still awhile, and thou shalt see the great power of God, howe he wyll punishe thee and thy seede. ¹⁸ After him they brought the sixt, which being at the poynt of death, saide, Be not deceaued O king: for this we suffer for our owne sakes, because we haue offended our God, and therefore marueylous thinges are shewed vpon vs. ¹⁹ But thinke not thou which takest in hande to striue against God, that thou shalt escape vnpunished. ²⁰ This excellent mother worthy to be wel reported of & had in remembrauce, saw her seuen sonnes dye in one day, and suffered it paciently, because of the hope that she had in God: ²¹ Yea, she exhorted euery one of them in her countrey language, and that boldly and stedfastly with perfect wysdome, waking vp her wiuishe thought with a manly stomake, and saide vnto them, ²² I can not tell howe ye sprang in my wombe: for I neither gaue you breath, nor soule, nor lyfe, it is not I that ioyned the members of your bodies together, ²³ But the maker of the worlde which fashioned the byrth of man, and began all thinges: Euen he also of his owne mercie shall geue you breath and lyfe againe, lyke as ye now regard not your owne selues for his lawes sake. ²⁴ Now thought Antiochus that she had despised him, therfore he let her go with her reproffes, and began to exhort the youngest sonne which yet was left, not onely with wordes, but swore vnto him with an oth, that he shoulde make him a rich and wealthy man, if he would forsake the lawes of his fathers: yea, and that he shoulde geue him whatsoeuer were necessarie for him. ²⁵ But when the young man would not be moued for all these thinges, he called his mother and counselled her to saue her sonnes lyfe. ²⁶ And when he had exhorted her with many wordes, she promysed him that she would speake to her sonne. ²⁷ So she turned her vnto him, laughing the cruell tyraunt to scorne, and spake in her countrey language: O my sonne, haue pitie vpon me, that bare thee nine monethes in my wombe, that gaue thee sucke, nourished thee: and brought thee vp vnto this age, ²⁸ I beseche thee my sonne, loke vpon heauen and earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them and mans generation of naught: ²⁹ So shalt thou not feare this hangman, but suffer death stedfastly, lyke as thy brethren haue done: that I may receaue thee againe in the same mercie with thy brethren. ³⁰ While she was yet speaking these wordes, the young man saide: whom loke ye for? [wherefore do ye tary?] I wyl not obey the kinges commaundement, but the law that God gaue vs by Moyses. ³¹ As for thou that imaginest al mischiefe against the Iewes, thou shalt not escape the hande of God. ³² For we suffer these thinges because of our sinnes. ³³ And though the liuing Lord be angry with vs a litle while for our chastening and reformation, yet shall he be at one againe with his seruauntes. ³⁴ But thou O godlesse man, and of all other the most wicked, pride not thy selfe through vaine hope, in being so malitious vpon the seruauntes of God: ³⁵ For thou hast not yet escaped the iudgementes of God, which is almightie, & seeth all thinges. ³⁶ My brethren that haue suffered a litle paine, are nowe vnder the couenaunt of euerlasting lyfe: but through the iudgement of God, thou shalt be punished righteously for thy pride. ³⁷ As for me, lyke as my brethren haue done, I offer my soule and my bodye for the lawes of our fathers, calling vpon God that he wyll soone be mercifull vnto our people: yea and with paine and punishment to make thee graunt that he onely is God. ³⁸ In me nowe and in my brethren, the wrath of almightie God is at an ende, which righteously is fallen vpon all our people. ³⁹ Then the king being kindled in anger, was more cruell vpon him then vpon al the other, and toke indignation that he was so lightly regarded. ⁴⁰ So this young man dyed vndefiled, and put his trust still in the Lorde. ⁴¹ Last of all, after the sonnes was the mother put to death also. ⁴² Let this now be inough spoken concerning the offeringes and extreme cruelnesse.