The Bible 4 Maccabees Chapter 15
4 Maccabees 15
Μακκαβαίων Δ´
1 Ω λογισμὲ τέκνων παθῶν τύραννε καὶ εὐσέβεια μητρὶ τέκνων ποθεινοτέρα.
O reasoning of the sons, lord over the passions, and religion more desirable to a mother than progeny!
2 μήτηρ δυοῖν προκειμένων, εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς τῶν ἑπτὰ υἱῶν σωτηρίας προσκαίρου κατὰ τὴν τοῦ τυράννου ὑπόσχεσιν,
The mother, when two things were set before here, religion and the safety of her seven sons for a time, on the conditional promise of a tyrant,
3 τὴν εὐσέβειαν μᾶλλον ἠγάπησε τὴν σῴζουσαν εἰς αἰώνιον ζωὴν κατὰ Θεόν.
rather elected the religion which according to God preserves to eternal life.
4 ᾦ τίνα τρόπον ἠθολογήσαιμι, φιλότεκνα γονέων πάθη. ψυχῆς τε καὶ μορφῆς ὁμοιότητα εἰς μικρὸν παιδὸς χαρακτῆρα θαυμάσιον ἐναποσφραγίζομεν, μάλιστα διὰ τὸ τῶν παθῶν τοῖς γεννηθεῖσι τὰς μητέρας τῶν πατέρων καθεστάναι συμπαθεστέρας.
O in what way can I describe ethically the affections of parents towards their children, the resemblance of soul and of form engrafted into the small type of a child in a wonderful manner, especially through the greater sympathy of mothers with the feelings of those born of them!
5 ὅσῳ γὰρ καὶ ἀσθενόψυχοι καὶ πολυγονώτεραι ὑπάρχουσιν αἱ μητέρες, τοσοῦτον μᾶλλόν εἰσι φιλοτεκνότεραι.
for by how much mothers are by nature weak in disposition and prolific in offspring, by so much the fonder they are of children.
6 πασῶν δὲ τῶν μητέρων ἐγένετο ἡ τῶν ἑπτὰ παίδων μήτηρ φιλοτεκνοτέρα, ἥτις ἑπτὰ κυοφορίαις τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπιφυτευομένη φιλοστοργίαν
And of all mothers the mother of the seven was the fondest of children, who in seven childbirths had deeply engendered love towards them;
7 καὶ διὰ πολλὰς τὰς καθ' ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ὠδῖνας ἠναγκασμένη τὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἔχειν συμπάθειαν,
and through her many pains undergone in connection with each one, was compelled to feel sympathy with them;
8 διὰ τὸν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν φόβον ὑπερεῖδε τὴν τῶν τέκνων πρόσκαιρον σωτηρίαν.
yet, through fear of God, she neglected the temporary salvation of her children.
9 οὐ μὴν δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν καλοκἀγαθίαν τῶν υἱῶν καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν νόμον αὐτῶν εὐπείθειαν μείζω τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔσχε φιλοστοργίαν.
Not but that, on account of the excellent disposition to the law, her maternal affection towards them was increased.
10 δίκαιοί τε γὰρ ἦσαν καὶ σώφρονες καὶ ἀνδρεῖοι καὶ μεγαλόψυχοι καὶ φιλάδελφοι καὶ φιλομήτορες οὕτως, ὥστε καὶ μέχρι θανάτου τὰ νόμιμα φυλάσσοντας πείθεσθαι αὐτῇ.
For they were both just and temperate, and manly, and high-minded, and fond of their brethren, and so fond of their mother that even to death they obeyed her by observing the law.
11 ἀλλ' ὅμως καίπερ τοσούτων ὄντων τῶν περὶ φιλοτεκνίαν εἰς συμπάθειαν ἑλκόντων τὴν μητέρα, ἐπ' οὐδενὸς αὐτῶν τὸν λογισμὸν αὐτῆς αἱ παμποίκιλοι βάσανοι ἴσχυσαν μεταστρέψαι,
And yet, though there were so many circumstances connected with love of children to draw on a mother to sympathy, in the case of none of them were the various tortures able to pervert her principle.
12 ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἕνα παῖδα καὶ ὁμοῦ πάντας ἡ μήτηρ ἐπὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας προετρέπετο θάνατον.
But she inclined each one separately and all together to death for religion.
13 ὦ φύσις ἱερὰ καὶ φίλτρα γονέων καὶ γένεσις φιλόστοργε καὶ τροφεῖα καὶ μητέρων ἀδάμαστα πάθη.
O holy nature and parental feeling, and reward of bringing up children, and unconquerable maternal affection!
14 καθ' ἕνα στρεβλούμενον καὶ φλεγόμενον ὁρῶσα μήτηρ, οὐ μετεβάλλετο διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν.
At the racking and roasting of each one of them, the observant mother was prevented by religion from changing.
15 τὰς σάρκας τῶν τέκνων ἑώρα περὶ τὸ πῦρ τηκομένας καὶ τοὺς τῶν ποδῶν καὶ χειρῶν δακτύλους ἐπὶ γῆς σπαίροντας καὶ τὰς τῶν κεφαλῶν μέχρι τῶν περὶ τὰ γένεια σάρκας ὥσπερ προσωπεῖα προκειμένας.
She saw her children's flesh dissolving around the fire; and their extremities quivering on the ground, and the flesh of their heads dropped forwards down to their beards, like masks.
16 ὦ πικροτέρων μὲν νῦν μήτηρ πόνων πειρασθεῖσα ἤπερ τῶν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὠδίνων.
O you mother, who was tried at this time with bitterer pangs than those of parturition!
17 ὦ μόνη γύναι τὴν εὐσέβειαν ὁλόκληρον ἀποκυήσασα.
O you only woman who have brought forth perfect holiness!
18 οὐ μετέτρεψέ σε πρωτότοκος ἀποπνέων, οὐδὲ δεύτερος εἰς σὲ οἰκτρὸν βλέπων ἐν βασάνοις, οὐδὲ τρίτος ἀποψύχων,
Your firstborn, expiring, turned you not; nor the second, looking miserable in his torments; nor the third, breathing out his soul.
19 οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἑνὸς ἑκάστου θεωροῦσα ταυρηδὸν ἐπὶ τῶν βασάνων ὁρῶντας τὸν ἑαυτῶν αἰκισμὸν καὶ τοὺς μυκτῆρας προσημειουμένους αὐτῶν τὸν θάνατον, οὐκ ἔκλαυσας.
Nor when you did behold the eyes of each of them looking sternly upon their tortures, and their nostrils foreboding death, did you weep!
20 ἐπὶ σαρξὶ τέκνων ὁρῶσα σάρκας τέκνων ἀποκαιομένας καὶ ἐπὶ χερσὶ χεῖρας ἀποτεμνομένας καὶ ἐπὶ κεφαλαῖς κεφαλὰς ἀποδειροτομουμένας καὶ ἐπὶ νεκροῖς νεκροὺς πίπτοντας καὶ πολυάνδριον ὁρῶσα τῶν τέκνων τὸ χορεῖον διὰ τῶν βασάνων, οὐκ ἐδάκρυσας.
When you did see children's flesh heaped upon children's flesh that had been torn off, heads decapitated upon heads, dead falling upon the dead, and a choir of children turned through torture into a burying ground, you lamented not.
21 οὐχ οὕτως σειρήνειοι μελῳδίαι, οὐδὲ κύκνειοι πρὸς φιληκοΐαν φωναὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἐφέλκονται, ὡς τέκνων φωναὶ μετὰ βασάνων μητέρα φωνούντων.
Not so do siren melodies, or songs of swans, attract the hearers to listening, O voices of children calling upon your mother in the midst of torments!
22 πηλίκαις καὶ πόσαις τότε ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν βασανιζομένων τροχοῖς τε καὶ καυτηρίοις ἐβασανίζετο βασάνοις;
With what and what manner of torments was the mother herself tortured, as her sons were undergoing the wheel and the fires!
23 ἀλλὰ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτῆς ὁ εὐσεβὴς λογισμὸς ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς πάθεσιν ἀνδρειώσας ἐπέτεινε τὴν πρόσκαιρον φιλοτεκνίαν παριδεῖν.
But religious reasoning, having strengthened her courage in the midst of sufferings, enabled her to forego, for the time, parental love.
24 καίπερ ἑπτὰ τέκνων ὁρῶσα ἀπώλειαν καὶ τὴν τῶν στρεβλῶν πολύπλοκον ποικιλίαν, ἁπάσας ἡ γενναία μήτηρ ἐξέλυσε διὰ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν πίστιν.
Although beholding the destruction of seven children, the noble mother, after one embrace, stripped off [her feelings] through faith in God.
25 καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν βουλετηρίῳ τῇ ἑαυτῆς ψυχῇ δεινοὺς ὁρῶσα συμβούλους, φύσιν καὶ γένεσιν καὶ φιλοτεκνίαν καὶ τέκνων στρέβλας,
For just as in a council-room, beholding in her own soul vehement counsellors, nature and parentage and love of her children, and the racking of her children,
26 δύο ψήφους κρατοῦσα μήτηρ, θανατηφόρον τε καὶ σωτήριον, ὑπὲρ τέκνων
she holding two votes, one for the death, the other for the preservation of her children,
27 οὐκ ἐπέγνω τὴν σῴζουσαν ἑπτὰ υἱοὺς πρὸς ὀλίγον χρόνον σωτηρίαν,
did not lean to that which would have saved her children for the safety of a brief space.
28 ἀλλὰ τῆς θεοσεβοῦς Ἁβραὰμ καρτερίας ἡ θυγάτηρ ἐμνήσθη.
But this daughter of Abraham remembered his holy fortitude.
29 ὦ μήτηρ ἔθνους, ἔκδικε τοῦ νόμου καὶ ὑπερασπίστρια τῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ τοῦ διὰ σπλάγχνων ἀγῶνος ἀθλοφόρε·
O holy mother of a nation avenger of the law, and defender of religion, and prime bearer in the battle of the affections!
30 ὦ ἀρρένων πρὸς καρτερίαν γενναιοτέρα καὶ ἀνδρῶν πρὸς ὑπομονὴν ἀνδρειοτέρα.
O you nobler in endurance than males, and more manly than men in patience!
31 καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ Νῶε κιβωτὸς ἐν τῷ κοσμοπληθεῖ κατακλυσμῷ κοσμοφοροῦσα καρτερῶς ὑπήνεγκε τοὺς κλύδωνας,
For as the ark of Noah, bearing the world in the world-filling flood, bore up against the waves,
32 οὕτως σύ, ἡ νομοφύλαξ, πανταχόθεν ἐν τῷ τῶν παθῶν περιαντλουμένη κατακλυσμῷ καὶ καρτεροῖς ἀνέμοις, ταῖς τῶν υἱῶν βασάνοις συνεχομένη γενναίως ὑπέμεινας τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας χειμῶνας.
so you, the guardian of the law, when surrounded on every side by the flood of passions, and straitened by violent storms which were the torments of they children, did bear up nobly against the storms against religion.
Greek: the Septuagint as the Orthodox Media Network published it (Mount Athos); 2 Maccabees and the Prayer of Manasseh from Brenton's edition (1851). English: Brenton's translation (1851), its spelling updated by Michael Paul Johnson; public domain. About these texts.