4 Maccabees · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
4 Maccabees 12 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
4 Maccabees is not in RV1909.
1 When he, too, had undergone blessed martyrdom, and died in the caldron into which he had been thrown, the seventh, the youngest of all, came forward:
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2 whom the tyrant pitying, though he had been dreadfully reproached by his brethren,
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3 seeing him already encompassed with chains, had him brought nearer, and endeavored to counsel him, saying,
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4 Thou seest the end of the madness of thy brethren: for they have died in torture through disobedience; and you, if disobedient, having been miserably tormented, will yourself perish prematurely.
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5 But if you obey, you shall be my friend, and have a charge over the affairs of the kingdom.
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6 And having thus exhorted him, he sent for the mother of the boy; that, by condoling with her for the loss of so many sons, he might incline her, through the hope of safety, to render the survivor obedient.
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7 And he, after his mother had urged him on in the Hebrew tongue (as we shall soon relate), says,
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8 Release me, that I may speak to the king and all his friends.
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9 And they, rejoicing exceedingly at the promise of the youth, quickly let him go.
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10 And he, running up to the pans, said,
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11 Impious tyrant, and most blasphemous man, wert thou not ashamed, having received prosperity and a kingdom from God, to slay His servants, and to rack the doers of godliness?
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12 Wherefore the divine vengeance is reserving thee for eternal fire and torments, which shall cling to thee for all time.
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13 Wert thou not ashamed, man as thou art, yet most savage, to cut out the tongues of men of like feeling and origin, and having thus abused to torture them?
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14 But they, bravely dying, fulfilled their religion toward God.
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15 But thou shalt groan according to thy deserts for having slain without cause the champions of virtue.
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16 Wherefore, he continued, I myself, being about to die,
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17 will not forsake the testimony of my brethren.
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18 And I call upon the God of my fathers to be merciful to my race.
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19 But thee, both living and dead, he will punish.
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20 Thus having prayed, he hurled himself into the pans; and so expired.
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