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.
8
No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity.
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.