4 Maccabees 3:1-9

1 This notion is entirely ridiculous; for it is evident that reason rules not over its own emotions, but over those of the body.
2 No one of us can eradicate that kind of desire, but reason can provide a way for us not to be enslaved by desire.
3 No one of us can eradicate anger from the mind, but reason can help to deal with anger.
4 No one of us can eradicate malice, but reason can fight at our side so that we are not overcome by malice.
5 For reason does not uproot the emotions but is their antagonist.
6 Now this can be explained more clearly by the story of King David's thirst.
7 David had been attacking the Philistines all day long, and together with the soldiers of his nation had slain many of them.
8 Then when evening fell, he came, sweating and quite exhausted, to the royal tent, around which the whole army of our ancestors had encamped.
9 Now all the rest were at supper,
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.