1
"Why do you delay, O tyrant? For we are ready to die rather than transgress our ancestral commandments;
2
we are obviously putting our forefathers to shame unless we should practice ready obedience to the law and to Moses our counselor.
3
Tyrant and counselor of lawlessness, in your hatred for us do not pity us more than we pity ourselves.
4
For we consider this pity of yours which insures our safety through transgression of the law to be more grievous than death itself.
5
You are trying to terrify us by threatening us with death by torture, as though a short time ago you learned nothing from Eleazar.
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.