4 Maccabees 13

1Therefore, since the seven brothers looked down on pains even to death, it is acknowledged from every side that godly reason is sovereign over the passions.

2For just as those enslaved to their passions ate delicacies—for we said that they had been conquered by these things—

3But now it is not so; rather, by the reasoning that is praised by God, they overcame the passions.

4It is impossible to overlook the rule of reason, for they prevailed over both passion and pains.

5How then can one fail to acknowledge in these men the mastery over suffering that comes from blessedness, since they were not turned aside even by the pains of fire?

6For just as towers on harbor breakwaters, beating back the threats of the waves, provide a calm harbor for those sailing in,

7Thus the seven-towered blessedness of the young men, having fortified the harbor of godliness, conquered the licentiousness of the passions.

8For, having formed a sacred chorus of piety, they kept encouraging one another, saying,

9Let us die as brothers, brothers, for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three young men in Syria, who despised the furnace of equal torment.

10Let us not be cowardly in demonstrating our piety.

11And one said, “Take courage, brother,” while another said, “Endure nobly.”

12But he kept saying, “Remember from whom you come, and by what father's hand you are to be slaughtered.”

13Because of godliness Isaac endured. And each one, while looking at the others, all together cheerful and very courageous, said, “Let us dedicate ourselves to God with our whole heart—to the one who gave us our lives—and let us use our bodies to keep watch over the law.”

14Let us not fear the one who seems to kill.

15For great is the struggle of the soul and the danger laid up in eternal torment for those who transgress the commandment of God.

16Therefore, let us arm ourselves with the mastery over passions that comes from godly reason.

17thus, after we have suffered, Abraham and Isaac—

18And Jacob will welcome you, and all the fathers will praise you. And as each one of their brothers was being taken away, those who remained were saying, “Do not disgrace us, brother, nor prove false to those who died before us.”

19And you are not ignorant of the affections of human nature, which the divine and all-wise providence apportioned to those who are born through the fathers, having planted them through the mother's womb;

20in which brothers, having lived the same span of time, and having been formed at the same time, and having grown from the same blood, and through the same

21having been brought to full maturity in soul, and having been brought forth through equal periods of time, and drinking milk from the same springs, from which they are nourished,

22The souls of brothers are affectionate in embraces, and they grow much stronger through living together and through daily familiarity and the rest of their upbringing.

23and in our discipline under the law of God. Therefore, since brotherly affection had thus been established, sharing sympathy, the seven brothers joined together—

24For they had a firmer harmony with one another; for, having been trained by the same law, having practiced the same virtues, and having been brought up in a righteous way of life, they were drawn more closely together.

25For their shared commitment to noble goodness intensified their harmony with one another.

26For along with godliness she made brotherly love even more desirable to them.

27But likewise, although nature and custom and the dispositions of virtue were drawing together for them the affections of brotherhood, those who were left behind endured, because of piety, as they watched their brothers, being tortured to death, objects of pity.