The Koine Bible

O descendants of the seed of Abraham, children, Israelites, obey this law, and in every way be devout.

knowing that the devout reasoning is master of the passions and not only of the inward but also of the outward pains

For which things, because of piety, those men, having surrendered their bodies to labors, were not only admired by men, but were also deemed worthy of a divine portion

and because of them the nation was at peace, and having renewed the good order over the homeland, they have driven out the enemies

And the tyrant Antiochus has been punished even on earth, and after dying he is being chastised; for as he was in no way at all able to force the people of Jerusalem to become alien in race and to be separated from their ancestral customs, then, departing from Jerusalem, he made war against the Persians.

And the mother of the seven children was saying these things also to the children of righteousness.

for I became a pure virgin, nor did I go beyond the paternal house, but I guarded the built-up side

Nor did the destroyer of the wilderness, the corrupter, ruin me in the plain, nor did the destroyer, the serpent of deceit, violate the pure things of my virginity.

And I remained for a time of vigor with a husband; and when these had become grown men, their father died, blessed indeed, since he, having lived through the life of having many children, did not grieve the time of childlessness.

who was teaching you, while still being with you, the law and the prophets

the one killed, Abel, by Cain, and the one wholly offered, Isaac, and Joseph in prison

And he was saying to you Phinehas the zealot taught you also, you who were in the fire, Hananiah and Azariah and Mishael

and he was glorifying also Daniel in the lions’ den, whom he was calling blessed

And he was reminding you also of the writing of Isaiah, the one saying, Even if you pass through fire, a flame will not burn you up.

David, the hymn-writer, sang to you, saying, Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

Solomon was using proverb to you, saying, It is a tree of life for those who do its will

He was bringing to mind Ezekiel, the one saying, If these dry bones shall live?

For the song which Moses taught he did not forget, teaching the one that says

I will kill and make alive; this is your life and the length of days

O bitter was that day then, and not bitter when the bitter tyrant of the Greeks, having quenched fire with fire, led the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the cauldrons, with raw and boiling passions, and again to his tortures.

He blinded the pupils of their eyes and cut out tongues and killed with various tortures

for which divine justice came upon and will come upon the accursed tyrant

But the sons of Abraham, together with the trophy-bearing mother, are gathered into the choir of their fathers, having received pure and immortal souls from God

to whom be the glory unto the ages of the ages. Amen