1
The tyrant Antiochus, therefore, sitting in public state with his assessors upon a certain lofty place, with his armed troops standing in a circle around him,
2
commanded his spearbearers to seize every one of the Hebrews, and to compel them to taste swine's flesh, and things offered to idols.
3
And should any of them be unwilling to eat the accursed food, they were to be tortured on the wheel, and so killed.
4
And when many had been seized, a foremost man of the assembly, a Hebrew, by name Eleazar, a priest by family, by profession a lawyer, and advanced in years, and for this reason known to many of the king's followers, was brought near to him.