King James Version · Under the Greeks
2 Maccabees 6
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1Not long after this the king sent an old man of to compel the to depart from the laws of their fathers, and not to live after the laws of : 2And to pollute also in , and to call it of ; and that in Garizim, of the Defender of strangers, as they did that dwelt in the place. 3The coming in of this mischief was sore and grievous to the people: 4For was filled with riot and revelling by the , who dallied with harlots, and had to do with women within the circuit of the places, and besides that brought in things that were not lawful. 5The also was filled with profane things, which forbiddeth. 6Neither was it lawful for a man to keep days or ancient , or to profess himself at all to be a . 7And in the day of the king’s birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the ; and when the of Bacchus was kept, the were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy. 8Moreover there went out a to the neighbour cities of the heathen, by the suggestion of , against the , that they should observe the same fashions, and be partakers of their : 9And whoso would not conform themselves to the manners of the should be put to . Then might a man have seen the present misery. 10For there were two women brought, who had their children; whom when they had openly led round about the city, the babes handing at their breasts, they cast them down headlong from the wall. 11And others, that had run together into caves near by, to keep the secretly, being discovered by Philip, were all burnt together, because they made a to help themselves for the of the most sacred day. 12Now I beseech those that read this book, that they be not discouraged for these calamities, but that they judge those punishments not to be for , but for a chastening of our nation. 13For it is a token of his great goodness, when doers are not suffered any long time, but forthwith punished. 14For not as with other nations, whom patiently forbeareth to punish, till they be come to the fulness of their , so dealeth he with us, 15Lest that, being come to the height of , afterwards he should take of us. 16And therefore he never withdraweth his mercy from us: and though he punish with adversity, yet doth he never forsake his people. 17But let this that we at spoken be for a warning unto us. And now will we come to the declaring of the matter in words. 18, one of the principal , an aged man, and of a well favoured countenance, was constrained to open his , and to eat swine’s . 19But he, choosing rather to gloriously, than to live stained with such an , spit it forth, and came of his own accord to the torment, 20As it behoved them to come, that are resolute to stand out against such things, as are not lawful for love of life to be tasted. 21But they that had the charge of that feast, for the old acquaintance they had with the man, taking him aside, besought him to bring of his own provision, such as was lawful for him to use, and make as if he did eat of taken from the commanded by the king; 22That in so doing he might be from , and for the old friendship with them find . 23But he began to consider discreetly, and as became his age, and the excellency of his ancient years, and the of his gray head, whereon was come, and his most honest education from a child, or rather the law made and given by : therefore he answered accordingly, and willed them straightways to send him to the . 24For it becometh not our age, said he, in any to dissemble, whereby many young persons might think that , being fourscore years old and ten, were now gone to a strange religion; 25And so they through mine , and to live a little time and a moment longer, should be deceived by me, and I get a stain to mine old age, and make it . 26For though for the present time I should be from the punishment of men: yet should I not escape the hand of , neither alive, nor . 27Wherefore now, manfully changing this life, I will shew myself such an one as mine age requireth, 28And leave a notable example to such as be young to willingly and courageously for the honourable and laws. And when he had said these words, immediately he went to the torment: 29They that led him changing the good will they him a little before into hatred, because the foresaid speeches proceeded, as they thought, from a desperate . 30But when he was ready to with stripes, he groaned, and said, It is manifest unto , that hath the knowledge, that whereas I might have been from , I now sore pains in body by being beaten: but in am well content to suffer these things, because I fear him. 31And thus this man , leaving his for an example of a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.