Brenton's Septuagint · Under the Greeks
4 Maccabees 17
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1And some of the spearbearers said, that when she herself was about to be seized for the purpose of being put to , she threw herself upon the pile, rather than that they should touch her person. 2O thou mother, who together with seven children didst destroy the of the tyrant, and render void his intentions, and exhibit the nobleness of ! 3For thou, as a house bravely built upon of thy children, didst bear without swaying, the shock of tortures. 4Be of good cheer, therefore, O -minded mother! holding the firm [substance of the] of your with . 5Not so does the moon appear with the stars in , as thou art established honourable before , and fixed in the firmament with thy sons whom thou didst illuminate with religion to the stars. 6For thy bearing of children was after the fashion of a child of . 7And, were it lawful for us to paint as on a tablet the religion of thy story, the spectators would not shudder at beholding the mother of seven children enduring for the sake of religion various tortures even unto . 8And it had been a worthy thing to have inscribed upon the itself these words as a memorial to those of the nation, 9Here an aged priest, and an aged woman, and seven sons, are buried through the of a tyrant, who wished to destroy the polity of the . 10These also their nation, looking unto , and enduring torments unto . 11For it was a truly divine contest which was carried through by them. 12For at that time virtue presided over the contest, approving the victory through , namely, immortality, . 13 was the first to contend: and the mother of the seven children entered the contest; and the brethren contended. 14The tyrant was the opposite; and the world and living men were the spectators. 15And reverence for conquered, and her own athletes. 16Who did not admire those champions of true legislation? who were not astonied? 17The tyrant himself, and all their council, admired their ; 18through which, also, they now stand beside the divine , and live a life. 19For saith, And all are under thy hands. 20These, therefore, having been through , have been honoured not only with this , but that also by their means did not overcome our nation; 21and that the tyrant was punished, and their country purified. 22For they became the antipoise to the of the nation; and the Divine Providence Israel, aforetime afflicted, by of those pious ones, and their . 23For the tyrant , looking to their manly virtue, and to their in torture, proclaimed that as an example to his soldiers. 24And they proved to be to him noble and brave for land battles and sieges; and he conquered and stormed the towns of all his .
Sir Lancelot Brenton's 1851 English translation of the Greek Old Testament, public domain. Used here for books received in Orthodox canons that the other editions do not carry. 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.