2 Maccabees 6

1But after not much time, the king sent an aged Athenian to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God,

2and also to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to name it for Olympian Zeus, and the one on Gerizim, as those who inhabited the place happened to do, for Zeus the protector of strangers.

3And the pressure of this evil was harsh and grievous for everyone.

4For the sanctuary was filled by the Gentiles with debauchery and revelry, boldly carousing with prostitutes, approaching women in the sacred precincts, and even bringing inside things that were not proper.

5But the altar was filled with unlawful things by those who had departed from the laws.

6And it was permitted neither to keep the Sabbath, nor to observe the ancestral festivals, nor even simply to acknowledge being a Jew.

7And they were being led, under bitter compulsion, to the king’s monthly birthday observance for the sacrificial meal; and when a festival of Dionysus came, they were being forced, wearing ivy wreaths, to join the procession in honor of Dionysus.

8And a decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, at the suggestion of Ptolemy, to follow the same policy against the Jews, and to kill them,

9But those who did not choose to adopt the Greek ways were to be slaughtered. Thus one could see the present misery.

10For two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. After hanging the infants from their breasts and leading them publicly around the city, they threw them down from the wall.

11But others, having gathered nearby in the caves to observe the week in secret, were informed against to Philip and were burned together, because they scrupled to defend themselves out of regard for the honor of that most holy day.

12Therefore I urge those who read this book not to be disheartened because of these calamities, but to consider that these punishments are not for destruction, but for the discipline of our people.

13For indeed, not allowing those who act impiously to go on for a long time, but immediately bringing punishments upon them, is a sign of great kindness.

14For he did not decide to deal with us as he does with the other nations: he waits patiently with them until they have reached the full measure of their sins, and then punishes them.

15so that, when our sins have reached their full measure, he may not afterward take vengeance on us.

16Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but while disciplining with calamity, he does not abandon his own people.

17But let this be said by way of reminder for us; now we must proceed with the narrative in a few words.

18A certain Eleazar, one of the leading scribes, a man already advanced in age and most handsome in appearance, was being forced, with his mouth pried open, to eat pork.

19But he, choosing death with honor rather than life with defilement, went to the rack of his own accord,

20But after spitting it out, he came forward in the manner required for those who choose to resist things that it is not lawful to taste, even for the sake of one’s attachment to life.

21But those who had been appointed over the unlawful meal, because of their long-standing acquaintance with the man, took him aside privately and urged him to bring meat that it was proper for him to use, prepared by himself, and to pretend that he was eating the meats from the sacrifice that had been ordered by the king,

22so that, after doing this, he might be released from death, and because of their long-standing friendship with him might receive kindness.

23But he, adopting a noble resolve worthy of his age and of the dignity of old age, and of the distinction of his acquired and honored way of life, and of the finest conduct from childhood—rather, in keeping with the holy and God-given law—declared himself plainly, saying that they should send him quickly to Hades.

24For it is not worthy of our age to pretend, so that many of the young, supposing that Eleazar at ninety years of age has changed over to foreign ways,

25and they too, because of my hypocrisy and because of this brief and momentary life, might be led astray because of me, and I would acquire hatred and a stain upon my old age.

26For even if for the present I escape the punishment from men, yet I will escape neither alive nor dead from the hands of the Almighty.

27Therefore, by now bravely giving up my life, I will show myself worthy of my old age,

28thus leaving to the young a noble example of dying willingly and bravely for the revered and holy laws. And after saying these things, he immediately went to the rack,

29Those who were leading him changed the goodwill they had shown him a little earlier into hostility because of the words just spoken, since they regarded them, as they supposed, as madness.

30But as he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is clear that, though I could have been released from death, I am enduring cruel pains in my body while being scourged; but in my soul I gladly suffer these things because of fear of him.”

31So then, in this way he passed away, leaving behind his own death as an example of courage and a memorial of virtue, not only for the young but also for most of the nation.