1
O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way,
2
knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without.
3
Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by mortals, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance.
4
Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy.
5
The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.
6
The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children:
7
"I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father's house; but I guarded the rib from which woman was made.
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No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity.
9
In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A happy man was he, who lived out his life with good children, and did not have the grief of bereavement.
10
While he was still with you, he taught you the law and the prophets.