4 Maccabees 12

4 Maccabees 12

The Torture of the Seventh Brother

¹When he, too, thrown into the caldron, had died a blessed death, the seventh and youngest of all came forward.

²Even though the tyrant had been vehemently reproached by the brothers, he felt strong compassion for this child when he saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to persuade him, saying,

³“You see the result of your brothers’ stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience.

⁴You, too, if you do not obey, will be miserably tortured and die before your time,

⁵but if you yield to persuasion you will be my friend and a leader in the government of the kingdom.”[#2 Macc 7.24]

⁶When he had thus appealed to him, he sent for the boy’s mother to show compassion on her who had been bereaved of so many sons and to influence her to persuade the surviving son to obey and save himself.[#4 Macc 17.1]

⁷But after his mother had exhorted him in the Hebrew language, as we shall tell a little later,[#2 Macc 7.27]

⁸he said, “Let me loose, let me speak to the king and to all his Friends who are with him.”[#2 Macc 7.30–40]

⁹Extremely pleased by the boy’s declaration, they freed him at once.

¹⁰Running to the nearest of the braziers,

¹¹he said, “You profane tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, since you have received good things and also your kingdom from God, were you not ashamed to murder his servants and torture on the wheel the athletes of piety?

¹²Because of this, justice has laid up for you a more intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go.[#12.12 Another ancient authority reads divine justice]

¹³As a man, were you not ashamed, you most savage beast, to cut out the tongues of people who have feelings like yours and are made of the same elements as you and to maltreat and torture them in this way?

¹⁴Surely they by dying nobly fulfilled their pious duty to God, but you will wail bitterly for having killed without cause the contestants for virtue.”

¹⁵Then because he, too, was about to die, he said,

¹⁶“I do not desert the excellent example of my brothers,[#12.16 Other ancient authorities read the witness]

¹⁷and I call on the God of our ancestors to be merciful to our nation,[#12.17 Other ancient authorities read my people]

¹⁸but on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead.”

¹⁹After he had uttered these imprecations, he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life.[#12.19 Gk and so gave up]