4
while a herald who faced him cried out, "Obey the king's commands!"
5
But the courageous and noble man, like a true Eleazar, was unmoved, as though being tortured in a dream;
6
yet while the old man's eyes were raised to heaven, his flesh was being torn by scourges, his blood flowing, and his sides were being cut to pieces.
7
Although he fell to the ground because his body could not endure the agonies, he kept his reason upright and unswerving.
8
One of the cruel guards rushed at him and began to kick him in the side to make him get up again after he fell.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.