2 मक्काबियों 7

1It came to pass also, that seven brethren, together with their mother, were apprehended, and compelled by the king to eat swine’s flesh against the law, for which end they were tormented with whips and scourges.

2But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus: What wouldst thou ask, or learn of us? we are ready to die rather than to transgress the laws of God, received from our fathers.

3Then the king being angry commanded fryingpans, and brazen caldrons to be made hot: which forthwith being heated,

4He commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had spoken first: and the skin of his head being drawn off, to chop off also the extremities of his hands and feet, the rest of his brethren, and his mother, looking on.

5And when he was now maimed in all parts, he commanded him, being yet alive, to be brought to the Are, and to be fried in the fryingpan: and while he was suffering therein long torments, the rest, together with the mother, exhorted one another to die manfully,

6Saying: The Lord God will look upon the truth, and will take pleasure in us, as Moses declared in the profession of the canticle: And In his servants he will take pleasure.

7So when the first was dead after this manner, they brought the next to make him a, mocking stock: and when they had pulled off the skin of his head with the hair, they asked him if he would eat, before he were punished throughout the whole body in every limb.

8But he answered in his own language, and said: I will not do it. Wherefore Ire also in the next place, received the torments of the first:

9And when he was at the last gasp, he said thus: Thou indeed, O most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life: but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life.

10After him the third was made a mocking stock, and when he was required, he quickly put forth his tongue, and courageously stretched out his hands:

11And said with confidence: These have from heaven, but for the laws of God I now despise them: because I hope to receive them again from him.

12So that the king, and they that were with him, wondered at the young man’s courage, because he esteemed the torments as nothing.

13And after he was thus dead, they tormented the fourth in the like manner.

14And when he was now ready to die, he spoke thus: It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him: for, as to thee thou shalt have no resurrection unto life.

15And when they had brought the fifth, they tormented him. But he looking upon the king,

16Said: Whereas thou hast power among men, though thou art corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt: but think not that our nation is forsaken by God.

17But stay patiently a while, and thou shalt see his great power, in what manner he will torment thee and thy seed.

18After him they brought the sixth, and he being ready to die, spoke thus: Be not deceived without cause: for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against our God, and things worthy of admiration are done to us:

19But do not think that thou shalt escape unpunished, for that thou attempted to fight against God.

20Now the mother was to be admired above measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men, who beheld seven sons slain in the space of one day, and bore it with a good courage, for the hope that she had in God:

21And she bravely exhorted every one of them in her own language, being filled with wisdom: and joining a man’s heart to a woman’s thought,

22She said to them: I know not how you were formed in my womb: for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you.

23But the Creator of the world, that formed the nativity of man, and that found out the origin of all, he will restore to you again in his mercy, both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the sake of his laws.

24Now Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and withal despising the voice of the upbraider, when the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured him with an oath, that he would make him a rich and a happy man, and, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers, would take him for a friend, and furnish him with things necessary.

25But when the young man was not moved with these things, the king called the mother, and counselled her to deal with the young man to save his life.

26And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised that she would counsel her son.

27So bending herself towards him, mocking the cruel tyrant, she said in her own language: My son, have pity upon me, that bore thee nine months my womb, and save thee suck years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age.

28I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also:

29So thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren.

30While she was yet speaking these words, the young man said: For whom do you stay? I will not obey the commandment of the king, but the commandment of the law, which was given us by Moses.

31But thou that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shalt not escape the hand of God.

32For we suffer thus for our sins.

33And though the Lord our God is angry with us a little while for our chastisement and correction: yet he will be reconciled again to his servants.

34But thou, O wicked and of all men most flagitious, be not lifted up without cause with vain hopes, whilst thou art raging against his servants.

35For thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty God, who beholdeth all things.

36For my brethren, having now undergone a short pain, are under the covenant of eternal life: but thou by the judgment of God shalt receive just punishment for thy pride.

37But I, like my brethren, offer up my life and my body for the laws of our fathers: calling upon God to be speedily merciful to our nation, and that thou by torments and stripes mayst confess that he alone is God.

38But in me and in my brethren the wrath of the Almighty, which hath justly been brought upon all our nation, shall cease.

39Then the king being incensed with anger, raged against him more cruelly than all the rest, taking it grievously that he was mocked.

40So this man also died undefiled, wholly trusting in the Lord.

41And last of all after the sons the mother also was consumed.

42But now there is enough said of the sacrifices, and of the excessive cruelties.

1Contigit autem et septem fratres una cum matre sua apprehensos compelli a rege edere contra fas carnes porcinas, flagris et taureis cruciatos.

2Unus autem ex illis, qui erat primus, sic ait: Quid quæris, et quid vis discere a nobis? parati sumus mori, magis quam patrias Dei leges prævaricari.

3Iratus itaque rex, jussit sartagines et ollas æneas succendi: quibus statim succensis,

4jussit ei qui prior fuerat locutus amputari linguam, et cute capitis abstracta, summas quoque manus et pedes ei præscindi, ceteris ejus fratribus et matre inspicientibus.

5Et cum jam per omnia inutilis factus esset, jussit ignem admoveri, et adhuc spirantem torreri in sartagine: in qua cum diu cruciaretur, ceteri una cum matre invicem se hortabantur mori fortiter,

6dicentes: Dominus Deus aspiciet veritatem, et consolabitur in nobis, quemadmodum in protestatione cantici declaravit Moyses: Et in servis suis consolabitur.

7Mortuo itaque illo primo hoc modo, sequentem deducebant ad illudendum: et cute capitis ejus cum capillis abstracta, interrogabant si manducaret, priusquam toto corpore per membra singula puniretur.

8At ille respondens patria voce, dixit: Non faciam. Propter quod et iste, sequenti loco, primi tormenta suscepit:

9et in ultimo spiritu constitutus, sic ait: Tu quidem scelestissime in præsenti vita nos perdis: sed Rex mundi defunctos nos pro suis legibus in æternæ vitæ resurrectione suscitabit.

10Post hunc tertius illuditur, et linguam postulatus cito protulit, et manus constanter extendit:

11et cum fiducia ait: E cælo ista possideo, sed propter Dei leges nunc hæc ipsa despicio, quoniam ab ipso me ea recepturum spero:

12ita ut rex, et qui cum ipso erant, mirarentur adolescentis animum, quod tamquam nihilum duceret cruciatus.

13Et hoc ita defuncto, quartum vexabant similiter torquentes.

14Et cum jam esset ad mortem, sic ait: Potius est ab hominibus morti datos spem exspectare a Deo, iterum ab ipso resuscitandos: tibi enim resurrectio ad vitam non erit.

15Et cum admovissent quintum, vexabant eum. At ille respiciens in eum,

16dixit: Potestatem inter homines habens, cum sis corruptibilis, facis quod vis: noli autem putare genus nostrum a Deo esse derelictum:

17tu autem patienter sustine, et videbis magnam potestatem ipsius, qualiter te et semen tuum torquebit.

18Post hunc ducebant sextum, et is, mori incipiens, sic ait: Noli frustra errare: nos enim propter nosmetipsos hæc patimur, peccantes in Deum nostrum, et digna admiratione facta sunt in nobis:

19tu autem ne existimes tibi impune futurum, quod contra Deum pugnare tentaveris.

20Supra modum autem mater mirabilis, et bonorum memoria digna, quæ pereuntes septem filios sub unius diei tempore conspiciens, bono animo ferebat propter spem quam in Deum habebat:

21singulos illorum hortabatur voce patria fortiter, repleta sapientia: et, femineæ cogitationi masculinum animum inserens,

22dixit ad eos: Nescio qualiter in utero meo apparuistis, neque enim ego spiritum et animam donavi vobis et vitam, et singulorum membra non ego ipsa compegi:

23sed enim mundi Creator, qui formavit hominis nativitatem, quique omnium invenit originem, et spiritum vobis iterum cum misericordia reddet et vitam, sicut nunc vosmetipsos despicitis propter leges ejus.

24Antiochus autem, contemni se arbitratus, simul et exprobrantis voce despecta, cum adhuc adolescentior superesset, non solum verbis hortabatur, sed et cum juramento affirmabat se divitem et beatum facturum, et translatum a patriis legibus amicum habiturum, et res necessarias ei præbiturum.

25Sed ad hæc cum adolescens nequaquam inclinaretur, vocavit rex matrem, et suadebat ei ut adolescenti fieret in salutem.

26Cum autem multis eam verbis esset hortatus, promisit suasurum se filio suo.

27Itaque inclinata ad illum, irridens crudelem tyrannum, ait patria voce: Fili mi, miserere mei, quæ te in utero novem mensibus portavi, et lac triennio dedi et alui, et in ætatem istam perduxi.

28Peto, nate, ut aspicias ad cælum et terram, et ad omnia quæ in eis sunt, et intelligas quia ex nihilo fecit illa Deus, et hominum genus:

29ita fiet, ut non timeas carnificem istum, sed dignus fratribus tuis effectus particeps, suscipe mortem, ut in illa miseratione cum fratribus tuis te recipiam.

30Cum hæc illa adhuc diceret, ait adolescens: Quem sustinetis? non obedio præcepto regis, sed præcepto legis, quæ data est nobis per Moysen.

31Tu vero, qui inventor omnis malitiæ factus es in Hebræos, non effugies manum Dei.

32Nos enim pro peccatis nostris hæc patimur.

33Et si nobis propter increpationem et correptionem Dominus Deus noster modicum iratus est: sed iterum reconciliabitur servis suis.

34Tu autem, o sceleste, et omnium hominum flagitiosissime, noli frustra extolli vanis spebus in servos ejus inflammatus:

35nondum enim omnipotentis Dei, et omnia inspicientis, judicium effugisti.

36Nam fratres mei, modico nunc dolore sustentato, sub testamento æternæ vitæ effecti sunt: tu vero judicio Dei justas superbiæ tuæ pœnas exsolves.

37Ego autem, sicut fratres mei, animam et corpus meum trado pro patriis legibus, invocans Deum maturius genti nostræ propitium fieri, teque cum tormentis et verberibus confiteri quod ipse est Deus solus.

38In me vero et in fratribus meis desinet Omnipotentis ira, quæ super omne genus nostrum juste superducta est.

39Tunc rex accensus ira in hunc, super omnes crudelius desævit, indigne ferens se derisum.

40Et hic itaque mundus obiit, per omnia in Domino confidens.

41Novissime autem post filios, et mater consumpta est.

42Igitur de sacrificiis et de nimiis crudelitatibus satis dictum est.

1And it happened also that seven brothers, united with their mother, were apprehended and compelled by the king to eat the flesh of swine against divine law, being tormented with scourges and whips.

2But one of them, who was first, spoke in this way: “What would you ask, or what would you want to learn from us? We are ready to die, rather than to betray the laws that our fathers received from God.”

3And so the king, being angry, ordered frying pans and bronze caldrons to be heated. When these were presently heated,

4he ordered the tongue of him who had spoken first to be cut off, and, once the skin of his head had been pulled off, likewise his hands and feet to be cut off at the top, while the rest of his brothers and his mother were watching.

5And when now he had been made helpless in all parts, he commanded him to be moved to the fire, and, while still breathing, to be fried in the frying pan. As he was suffering long torments therein, the rest, united with the mother, exhorted one another to die with fortitude,

6saying: “The Lord God will perceive the truth, and he will be consoled in us, in the way that Moses declared in the profession of the canticle: ‘And in his servants, he will be consoled.’ ”

7And so, when the first had died in this way, they led in the next one, so as to ridicule him. And when the skin of his head was pulled off with the hair, they asked him if he would eat, instead of being punished throughout the whole body in every limb.

8But responding in the language of his fathers, he said, “I will not do it.” Because of this, he also, in the next place, received the torments of the first.

9And when he had reached his last breath, he spoke in this way: “You, indeed, O most wicked man, are destroying us in this present life. But the King of the world will raise us up, in eternal life at the resurrection, for we die on behalf of his laws.”

10After this one, the third was ridiculed, and when he was asked, he quickly offered up his tongue, and he resolutely extended his hands.

11And he said with confidence, “I possess these from heaven, but, because of the laws of God, I now despise them, for I hope to receive them again from him.”

12So then, the king and those who were with him, wondered at the soul of this youth, because he considered the torments as if they were nothing.

13And after he had died in this way, they afflicted the fourth with similar tortures.

14And when he was about to die, he spoke in this way: “It is preferable, being put to death by men, to wait for hope from God, so as to be revived again by him. But the resurrection to life will not be for you.

15And when they had brought the fifth, they afflicted him. But he, gazing at him,

16said: “Having power among men, though you are corruptible, you do what you want, but do not think that our nation has been abandoned by God.

17And so, wait patiently for a while, and you will see his great power, by the manner in which he will torture you and your offspring.”

18After this one, they brought the sixth, and he, being about to die, spoke in this way: “Do not go astray in vain. For we suffer because of ourselves, having sinned against our God, yet things worthy of admiration have been accomplished in us.

19But do not consider that you will be without punishment, for you have attempted to fight against God.”

20Now the mother was wonderful beyond measure, and a worthy memorial of the good, for she watched her seven sons perish within the time of one day, and she bore it with a good soul, because of the hope that she had in God.

21And, with fortitude, she exhorted every one of them, in the language of the fathers, being filled with wisdom. And, joining masculine courage with feminine thinking,

22she said to them: “I do not know how you were formed in my womb. For I did not give you spirit, nor soul, nor life; neither did I construct each of your limbs.

23Nevertheless, the Creator of the world, who formed the nativity of man, and who founded the origins of all, will restore both spirit and life to you again, with his mercy, just as you now despise yourselves for the sake of his laws.”

24But Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and at the same time also despising the voice of the reproacher, when only the youngest was still left, not only exhorted him with words, but also assured him with an oath, that he would make him wealthy and happy, and, if he would convert from the laws of his fathers, he would have him as a friend, and he would provide him with necessary things.

25But, when the youth was not swayed by these things, the king called the mother and persuaded her to act toward the youth to save him.

26And so, when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised that she would counsel her son.

27Then, leaning towards him and mocking the cruel tyrant, she said in the language of the fathers: “My son, take pity on me, for I carried you for nine months in my womb, and I gave you milk for three years, and I nourished you and led you through to this stage of life.

28I ask you, child, gaze upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and understand that God made them, and the family of man, out of nothing.

29So shall it be that you will not fear this executioner, but, participating worthily with your brothers, you shall accept death, so that, by this mercy, I shall receive you again with your brothers.”

30While she was still saying these things, the youth said: “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the precepts of the king, but the precepts of the law, which was given to us through Moses.

31In truth, you, who have been the inventor of all malice against the Hebrews, will not escape the hand of God.

32For we suffer these things because of our sins.

33And if, for the sake of our chastisement and correction, the Lord our God is angry with us for a little while, yet still he will be reconciled again to his servants.

34But as for you, O wicked and most disgraceful of all men, do be not be extolled over nothing, with vain hopes, while you are inflamed against his servants.

35For you have not yet escaped the judgment of Almighty God, who examines all things.

36Therefore, my brothers, having now sustained brief sorrow, have been brought under the covenant of eternal life. But, in truth, you, by the judgment of God, will be released into just punishment for your arrogance.

37But I, like my brothers, deliver up my soul and my body for the sake of the laws of the fathers, calling upon God so as to bring forgiveness upon our nation sooner, and so that you, with torments and lashings, may confess that he alone is God.

38Truly, in me and in my brothers, the wrath of the Almighty, which has been led over all our people justly, shall cease.”

39Then the king, burning with anger, raged against this one with cruelty beyond all the rest, bearing it indignantly that he himself was derided.

40And so this one also died in purity, trusting in the Lord through all things.

41Then, last of all, after the sons, the mother also was consumed.

42Therefore, about the sacrifices and about the exceedingly great cruelties, enough has been said.