1Not long after this, the king sent an elderly Athenian to compel the Jews to depart from their ancestral laws and not to live by the laws of God;
2and also to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to rename it for Olympian Zeus, and the one on Gerizim for Zeus, Protector of Strangers, in keeping with the character of the local inhabitants.
3The onslaught of this evil was harsh and grievous for all.
4For the temple was filled with debauchery and revelries by the Gentiles, who caroused with prostitutes and had relations with women in the sacred precincts, and furthermore brought forbidden things inside.
5The altar was filled with unlawful offerings, which were forbidden by the laws.
6It was not possible to keep the Sabbath, or to observe the ancestral feasts, or even simply to confess to be a Jew.
7They were driven by bitter compulsion to the sacrificial meal at the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday; and when the festival of Dionysus occurred, they were forced to march in procession for Dionysus, wearing ivy wreaths.
8And a decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, at the suggestion of Ptolemy, to enforce the same policy against the Jews and to make them take part in the sacrificial meals,
9and to slaughter those who did not choose to adopt the Greek ways. So one could see the present misery.
10For two women were brought up who had circumcised their children; and having hung the infants from their breasts and paraded them publicly through the city, they threw them down from the wall.
11Others who had gathered in the nearby caves to observe the seventh day secretly were reported to Philip and were burned alive together, because they were too scrupulous to defend themselves out of respect for that most holy day.
12I urge, therefore, those who read this book not to be disheartened by these calamities, but to consider that these punishments were not for destruction, but for the discipline of our people.
13For it is a sign of great kindness that the ungodly are not left alone for a long time, but immediately fall into punishments.
14For the Master does not patiently wait, as with other nations, until he punishes them when they have reached the fullness of their sins; so he has decided it should be with us,
15so that he might not have to take vengeance on us later, when our sins have reached their limit.
16Therefore, he never withdraws his mercy from us; but by disciplining us with calamity, he does not forsake his own people.
17Let this be enough for a reminder. We must now proceed to the narrative.
18Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man advanced in age and of a most noble countenance, was being forced to eat pork as they held his mouth open.
19But he, embracing a death with honor rather than a life with defilement, went willingly to the instrument of torture,
20spitting it out, as was proper for those who have the courage to reject things that are not lawful to taste, even for the love of life.
21But those appointed to oversee the unlawful sacrificial meal, because of their long-standing acquaintance with the man, took him aside privately and urged him to bring meat that was lawful for him to use, prepared by himself, and to pretend to be eating the meat from the sacrifice, as ordered by the king,
22so that by doing this he might be saved from death and, because of their old friendship with him, might receive humane treatment.
23But he formed a noble resolve, worthy of his age and the dignity of his old age, of his distinguished gray hair and his excellent conduct from childhood, and above all, of the holy and God-given law. He declared his choice accordingly, saying to send him quickly to Hades.
24“For it is not worthy of our age to pretend,” he said, “lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, at ninety years of age, has gone over to foreign ways,
25and they themselves, because of my pretense and for the sake of a fleeting moment of life, should be led astray through me, and I should bring defilement and a stain upon my old age.
26For even if for the present I escape the punishment of men, yet I will not escape the hands of the Almighty, either living or dead.
27Therefore, by manfully departing this life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,
28and I will have left a noble example for the young to die willingly and nobly for our revered and holy laws.” Having said these things, he went straight to the instrument of torture.
29Those who were leading him changed their recent goodwill toward him into ill will because of the words he had just spoken, which they regarded as madness.
30When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said, “It is clear to the Lord, who has holy knowledge, that though I was able to be saved from death, I am enduring severe pains in my body while being flogged, but in my soul I suffer these things gladly because of the fear of him.”
31And so in this manner he departed this life, leaving his death as an example of nobility and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the majority of the nation.
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