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FOR the Reason of our father Eleazar, like a fine steersman steering the ship of sanctity on the sea of the passions, though buffeted by the threats of the tyrant and swept by the swelling waves of the tortures, never shifted for one moment the helm of sanctity until he sailed into the haven of victory over death.

'O young men, I wish well to each one of you, and admire your beauty, and honour highly so large a band of brothers; so not only do I advise you not to persist in the madness of that old man who has already suffered, but I even entreat of you to yield to me and become partakers in my friendship.

Share in the Hellenic life, and walk in a new way, and take some pleasure in your youth; for if you drive me to anger with your disobedience you will compel me to resort to terrible penalties and put every single one of you to death by torture.

AND thus no sooner did the tyrant conclude his urging of them to eat unclean meat than all with one voice together, and as with one soul, said to him: 2 'Why dost thou delay, O tyrant? We are ready to die rather than transgress the commandments of our fathers.

AND thus no sooner did the tyrant conclude his urging of them to eat unclean meat than all with one voice together, and as with one soul, said to him: 2 'Why dost thou delay, O tyrant? We are ready to die rather than transgress the commandments of our fathers.

In the armour of virtue I go to join my brothers in death, and to add in myself one strong avenger more to punish thee, O deviser of the tortures and enemy of the truly righteous.

AND when this one also died a blessed death, being cast into the cauldron, the seventh son, the youngest of them all, came forward.

They formed a holy choir of righteousness as they cheered one another on, saying:

And one said, 'Brother, be of good cheer,' and another, 'Bear it out nobly'; and another recalling the past, 'Remember of what stock ye are, and at whose fatherly hand Isaac for righteousness' sake yielded himself to be a sacrifice.'

And to each separate one of the brothers, as they were dragged off, those whose turn was yet to come said, 'Do not disgrace us, brother, nor be false to our brethren already dead.'

The feeling of brotherly love being thus naturally strong, the seven brethren had their mutual concord made yet stronger. For trained in the same Law, and disciplined in the same virtues, and brought up together in the upright life, they loved one another the more abundantly. Their common zeal for moral beauty and goodness heightened their mutual concord, for in conjunction with their piety it rendered their brotherly love more fervent.

And think it not wonderful if with those men Reason triumphed over the tortures, when even a woman's soul despised a yet greater diversity of pains; for the mother of the seven youths endured the torments inflicted on each several one of her children.

The mother, seeing them one by one racked and burned, remained unshaken in soul for religion's sake.

The mother, seeing them one by one racked and burned, remained unshaken in soul for religion's sake.

When thou sawest the flesh of one son being severed after the flesh of another, and hand after hand being cut off, and head after head being flayed, and corpse cast upon corpse, and the place crowded with spectators on account of the tortures of thy children, thou sheddest not a tear.

And although she saw the destruction of her seven children and the many and varied forms of their torments, the noble mother willingly surrendered them through faith in God. 20 For she beheld in her own mind, even as it had been cunning advocates in a council-chamber, nature, and parenthood, and mother-love, and her children on the rack, and it was as if she, the mother, having the choice between two votes in the case of her children, one for their death and one to save them alive, thereupon regarded not the saving of her seven sons for a little time, but, as a true daughter of Abraham, called to mind his God-fearing courage.

And although she saw the destruction of her seven children and the many and varied forms of their torments, the noble mother willingly surrendered them through faith in God. 20 For she beheld in her own mind, even as it had been cunning advocates in a council-chamber, nature, and parenthood, and mother-love, and her children on the rack, and it was as if she, the mother, having the choice between two votes in the case of her children, one for their death and one to save them alive, thereupon regarded not the saving of her seven sons for a little time, but, as a true daughter of Abraham, called to mind his God-fearing courage.

Thus then, if one both a woman and advanced in years, and the mother of seven sons, endured the sight of her children being tortured to death, the Inspired Reason must confessedly be supreme ruler over the passions.

But the holy and God-fearing mother wailed not with this lamentation over any one of them, neither besought she any to escape death, nor lamented over them as dying men; but, as though she had a soul of adamant and were bringing forth the number of her sons, for a second time, into immortal life, she besought rather and entreated of them that they should die for religion's sake.

With these words the mother of the seven encouraged every single one of her sons to die rather than transgress the ordinance of God; they themselves also knowing well that men dying for God live unto God, as live Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.

For who is able to distinguish love, except the one that is loved?

And he who has pleasure in the Living One, will become living.

For one hour of thy Faith is more precious than all days and years.

And my inebriation was not one without knowledge, but I forsook vanity and turned to the Most High my God,

And by it the worlds talk one to the other; and in the Word there were those that were silent;

And from it came love and concord; and they spake one to the other whatever was theirs; and they were penetrated by the Word;

And their alternations one to the other speak the beauty of God: IS And there is nothing that is without the Lord; for He was before any thing came into being:

The letter was one of command, for there were included in it all districts;

And every one of them that was imperfect perished: for it was not possible to give them a word that they might remain:

They who saw me marvelled at me, because I was persecuted, and they supposed that I was swallowed up: for I seemed to them as one of the lost;

And He stood on a lofty summit and uttered His voice from one end of the earth to the other:

Where one is surrounded on every side by beauty, there is nothing that is divided.

And I became one of His Neighbours; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew,

The Messiah is truly one; and He was known before the foundation of the world,

My expansion is the outspread tree which was set up on the way of the Righteous One.

But one thing I will say in Your presence, O Lord.

Or how shall one speak of Your praises? or to whom shall that which is in Your law be explained? Or shall the world return to its nature of aforetime), and the age revert to primeval silence? And shall the multitude of souls be taken away, and the nature of man not again be named? And where is all that which you did say regarding us?'

For how long? you will say to them: "Ye who have drunk the strained wine, Drink you also of its dregs, The judgment of the Lofty One Who has no respect of persons."

For what did it profit Adam that he lived nine hundred and thirty years and transgressed that which he was commanded? Therefore the multitude of time that he lived did not profit him, but brought death and cut off the years of those who were born from him. wherein did Moses suffer loss in that he lived only one hundred and twenty years, and, inasmuch he was subject to Him who formed him, brought the law to the seed of Jacob, and lighted a lamp for the nation of Israel?'

And again hearken: though each one were prospered all that time-all the time from the day on which death was decreed against those who transgress-and in his end was destroyed, in vain would have been everything.

And it came to pass at sunset that my soul took much thought, and I began to speak in the presence of the Mighty One, and said:

And I answered and said: 'But, behold! O Lord, no one knowsthe number of those things which have passed nor yet of those things which are to come.

And it will come to pass when they say in their thoughts by reason of their much tribulation: "The Mighty 'One doth no longer remember the earth"-yes, it will come to pass when they abandon hope, that the time will then awake.'

And He answered and said unto me: 'Into twelve parts is that time divided, and each one of them is reserved for that which is appointed for it.

For these parts of that time are reserved, and shall be mingled one with another and minister one to another.

For these parts of that time are reserved, and shall be mingled one with another and minister one to another.

Is it in one place or in one of the parts of the earth that those things are come to pass, or will the whole earth experience (them) ?'

Is it in one place or in one of the parts of the earth that those things are come to pass, or will the whole earth experience (them) ?'

Then all who have fallen asleep in hope of Him shall rise again. And it shall come to pass at that time that the treasuries will be opened in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous, and they shall come forth, and a multitude of souls shall be seen together in one assemblage of one thought, and the first shall rejoice and the last shall not be grieved.

Then all who have fallen asleep in hope of Him shall rise again. And it shall come to pass at that time that the treasuries will be opened in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous, and they shall come forth, and a multitude of souls shall be seen together in one assemblage of one thought, and the first shall rejoice and the last shall not be grieved.

'But as for you, if you prepare your hearts, so as to sow in them the fruits of the law, it shall protect you in that time in which the Mighty One is to shake the whole creation.

For there will be a greater trial than these two tribulations when the Mighty One will renew His creation.

And I answered and said unto the people: 'Far be it from me to forsake you or to withdraw from you, but I will only go unto the Holy of Holies to inquire of the Mighty One concerning you and concerning Zion, if in some respect I should receive more illumination: and after these things I will return to you.

And the height of the forest began to be made low, and the top of the mountains was made low and that fountain prevailed greatly, so that it left nothing of that great forest save one cedar only.

And you kept conquering that which was not yours, and to that which was your you did never show compassion, and you did keep extending your power over those who were far from you, and those who drew near you, you did hold fast in the toils of your wickedness, and you did uplift thyself always as one that could not be rooted out!

And time shall succeed to time and season to season, and one shall receive from another, and then with a view to the consummation shall everything be compared according to the measure of the times and the hours of the seasons.

But withdraw you not from the way of the law, But guard and admonish the people which remain, Lest they withdraw from the commandments of the Mighty One.

For the judgment of the Mighty One shall (thereby) be made known, And His ways, which, though past finding out, are right.

And my son and the elders of the people answered and said unto me: 'Has the Mighty One humiliated us to such a degree As to take you from us quickly?

And I said unto them: 'The throne of the Mighty One I cannot resist; Nevertheless, there shall not be wanting to Israel a wise man Nor a son of the law to the race of Jacob.

And when I had gone forth and dismissed them, I went there and said unto them: 'Behold! I go to Hebron: for thither the Mighty One hath sent me.'

And it came to pass after the seventh day, that I prayed before the Mighty One and said:

For we are all one celebrated people, Who have received one law from One: And the law which is amongst us will aid us, And the surpassing wisdom which is in us will help us.'

For we are all one celebrated people, Who have received one law from One: And the law which is amongst us will aid us, And the surpassing wisdom which is in us will help us.'

For we are all one celebrated people, Who have received one law from One: And the law which is amongst us will aid us, And the surpassing wisdom which is in us will help us.'

And it shall come to pass in those days that all the inhabitants of the earth shall be moved one against another, because they know not that My judgment has drawn nigh.

And it shall come to pass at the self-same time, That a change of times shall manifestly appeal to every man, Because in all those times they polluted themselves And they practiced oppression, And walked every man in his own works, And remembered not the law of the Mighty One.

'Nevertheless, I Will again ask from you, O Mighty One, yea, I will ask made all things.

And I saw that there was not one and the same likeness in the waters which descended from it.

And I besought the Mighty One, and said: 'You alone, O Lord, know of aforetime the deep things of the world, And the things which befall in their times You bring about by Your word, And against the works of the inhabitants of the earth you do hasten the beginnings of the times, And the end of the seasons you alone know.

For I will not be silent in praising the Mighty One, And with the voice of praise I will recount His marvelous deeds.

For though Adam first sinned And brought untimely death upon all, Yet of those who were born from him Each one of them has prepared for his own soul torment to come, And again each one of them has chosen for himself glories to come.

For though Adam first sinned And brought untimely death upon all, Yet of those who were born from him Each one of them has prepared for his own soul torment to come, And again each one of them has chosen for himself glories to come.

And if with the expectation wherewith you do expect the day of the Mighty One you are so overcome, What (wilt you be) when you shall come to its advent?

And the Mighty One hath assuredly made known to you the methods of the times that have passed, and of those that are destined to pass in His world from the beginning of its creation even unto its consummation, of those things which (are) deceit and of those which (are) in truth.

For as you did see a great cloud which ascended from the sea, and went and covered the earth, this is the duration of the world (= αιων) which the Mighty One made when he took counsel to make the world.

But also the heavens at that time were shaken from their place, and those who were under the throne of the Mighty One were perturbed, when He was taking Moses unto Himself.

And the judgment of the rulers was then seen to be without guile, And the righteousness of the precepts of the Mighty One was accomplished with truth.

When, moreover, Hezekiah the king heard those things which the king of Assyria was devising, (i.e.) to come and seize him and destroy his people, the two and a half tribes which remained: nay, more he wished to overthrow Zion also: then Hezekiah trusted in his works, and had hope in his righteousness, and spoke with the Mighty One and said:

And the Mighty One heard him, for Hezekiah was wise, And He had respect unto his prayer, because he was righteous.

And thereupon the Mighty One commanded Ramiel His angel who speaks with you.

And I went forth and destroyed their multitude, the number of whose chiefs only was a hundred and eighty-five thousand, and each one of them had an equal number (at his command).

And at that time I burned their bodies within, but their raiment and arms I preserved outwardly, in order that the still more wonderful deeds of the Mighty One might appear, and that thereby His name might be spoken of throughout the whole earth.

And all those who were in the holy land rejoiced, and the name of the Mighty One was glorified so that it was spoken of

And he made an image with five faces: four of them looked to the four winds, and the fifth on the summit of the image as ah adversary of the zeal of the Mighty One.

And then wrath went forth from the presence of the Mighty One to the intent that Zion should be rooted out, as also it befell in your days.

'Thus, moreover, did Manasseh act impiously, and thought that in his time the Mighty One would not inquire into these things.

'And the bright tenth waters which you have seen: this is the purity of the generations of Josiah king of Judah, who was the only one at the time who submitted himself to the Mighty One with all his heart and with all his soul.

'And the bright tenth waters which you have seen: this is the purity of the generations of Josiah king of Judah, who was the only one at the time who submitted himself to the Mighty One with all his heart and with all his soul.

And he was zealous with zeal for the Mighty One with all his soul, and he alone was firm in the law at that time, so that he left none that was uncircumcised, or that wrought impiety in all the land, all the days of his life.

Therefore he shall receive an eternal reward, and he shall be glorified with the Mighty One beyond many at a later time.

Do you think that there is no anguish to the angels in the presence of the Mighty One, That Zion was so delivered up, And that lo! the Gentiles boast in their hearts, And assemble before their idols and say, "She is trodden down who oftentimes trod down, And she has been reduced to servitude who reduced (others)"?

Behold! the days come, and it shall be when the time of the age has ripened, And the harvest of its evil and good seeds has come, That the Mighty One will bring upon the earth and its inhabitants and upon its rulers Perturbation of spirit and stupor of heart.

And they shall hate one another, And provoke one another to fight, And the mean shall rule over the honorable, And those of low degree shall be extolled above the famous.

And they shall hate one another, And provoke one another to fight, And the mean shall rule over the honorable, And those of low degree shall be extolled above the famous.

And no one shall again die untimely, Nor shall any adversity suddenly befall.

Or who of those who are born can hope to come to those things, Unless he is one to whom you are merciful and gracious?

And the whole people answered and said unto me: 'So far as we can recall the good things which the Mighty One has done unto us, we do recall them; and those things which we do not remember He in His mercy knows.

And it came to pass on the one and twentieth day in the eighth month that I, Baruch, came and sat down under the oak under the shadow of the branches, and no man was with me, but I was alone.

And I wrote these two epistles: one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes; and the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men.