Brenton's Septuagint · Under the Greeks
4 Maccabees 18
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1O Israelitish children, of the of , this law, and in every way be religious. 2Knowing that religious reasoning is of the passions, and those not only inward but outward. 3Whence those persons giving up their bodies to pains for the sake of religion, were not only admired by men, but were deemed worthy of a divine . 4And the nation through them obtained peace, and having renewed the observance of in their country, drove out of the land. 5And the tyrant was both punished upon earth, and is punished now he is ; for when he was quite unable to compel the to adopt foreign customs, and to the manner of life of their fathers, 6then, departing from , he made war against the . 7And mother of the seven children spake also as follows to her : I was a pure virgin, and went not beyond house; but I took care of the built-up rib. 8No of , [or] ravisher of the plain, injured me; nor did the destructive, deceitful, snake, make spoil of my chaste virginity; and I remained with my husband during the period of my prime. 9And these my children, having arrived at maturity, their : was he! for having sought out a life of fertility in children, he was not grieved with a period of loss of children. 10And he used to teach you, when yet with you, and . 11He used to read to you the slaying of by , and the up of , and the imprisonment of Joseph. 12And he used to tell you of the ; and informed you of and , and in the . 13And he used to Daniel, who was in the den of lions, and pronounce him . 14And he used to put you in of the of , which saith, Even if thou pass through the , it shall not burn thee. 15He chanted to you , the hymn-writer, who saith, Many are the afflictions of the . 16He declared the of , who saith, He is a to all those who do His will. 17He used to verify , who said, Shall these dry bones live? 18For he did not forget the song which taught, proclaiming, I will kill, and I will make to live. 19This is our life, and the length of our days. 20O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the bitter tyrant of , quenching with in his cruel caldrons, brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of to the catapelt, and to all his torments! 21He pierced the balls of their eyes, and cut out their , and put them to with varied tortures. 22Wherefore divine retribution pursued and will pursue the pestilent wretch. 23But the children of , with their victorious mother, are assembled together to the choir of their fathers; having received pure and immortal from . 24To whom be . .
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.