them

As he spake thus the guards bound him and brought him before the catapult; and they tied him thereto on his knees, and, fastening them there with iron clamps, they wrenched his loins over the rolling 'wedge' so that he was completely curled back like a scorpion and every joint was disjointed.

And they made sharp skewers red-hot and ran them into his back, and piercing through his sides they burned away his entrails also.

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

Art thou not ashamed, being a man, O wretch with the heart of a wild beast, to take men of like feelings with thyself, made from the same elements, and tear out their tongues, and scourge and torture them in this manner?

And each and all of them together, looking at each other brightly and very boldly, said, 'With a whole heart will we consecrate ourselves unto God who gave us our souls, and let us lend our bodies to the keeping of the Law.

You are not ignorant of the love of brethren, whereof the divine and all-wise Providence has given an inheritance to those who are begotten though their fathers, implanting it in them even through the mother's womb; wherein brethren do dwell the like period, and take their form during the same time, and are nourished from the same blood, and are quickened with the same soul, and are brought into the world after the same space, and they draw milk from the same founts, whereby their fraternal souls are nursed together in arms at the breast; and they are knit yet closer through a common nurture and daily companionship and other education, and through our discipline under the Law of God.

But though nature, companionship, and their virtuous disposition increased the ardour of their brotherly love, nevertheless the surviving sons through their religion supported the sight of their brethren, who were on the rack, being tortured to death; nay more, they even encouraged them to face the agony, so as not only to despise their own tortures, but also to conquer their passion of brotherly affection for their brethren. 34 O Reasoning minds, more kingly than kings, than freemen more free, of the harmony of the seven brethren, holy and well attuned to the keynote of piety!

And then, if they be unable to drive him away, they flutter around the nestlings in a passion of love, calling to them in their own speech, and they give succour to their young ones in whatever fashion they can.

And what need have we of examples of the love of offspring among irrational animals, when even the bees, about the season of the making of the comb, fend off intruders, and stab with their sting, as with a sword, those who approach their brood, and do battle against them even to the death?

For women are softer of soul than men, and the more children they bear the more do they abound in love for them.

Ay, and more than that, through the moral beauty and goodness of her sons and their obedience to the Law, her maternal love for them was made stronger.

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

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.

For there is this also to consider, that had the woman been weak of spirit, despite her motherhood, she might have wept over them, and perchance spoken thus:

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.

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.

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.

Not so majestic stands the moon amid the stars in heaven as thou, having lit the path of thy seven starlike sons unto righteousness, standest in honour with God; and thou art set in heaven with them.

For truly it was a holy war which was fought by them. For on that day virtue, proving them through endurance, set before them the prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life.

For truly it was a holy war which was fought by them. For on that day virtue, proving them through endurance, set before them the prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life.

For truly it was a holy war which was fought by them. For on that day virtue, proving them through endurance, set before them the prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life.

Who were not amazed at them? The tyrant himself and his whole council admired their endurance, whereby they now do both Stand beside the throne of God and live the blessed age.

And these men, therefore, having sanctified themselves for God's sake, not only have received this honour, but also the honour that through them the enemy had no more power over our people, and the tyrant suffered punishment, and our country was purified, they having as it were become a ransom for our nation's sin; and through the blood of these righteous men and the propitiation of their death, the divine Providence delivered Israel that before was evil entreated.

And through them the nation obtained peace and restoring the observance of the Law in our country hath captured the city from the enemy.

He quoted to us the proverb of Solomon, "He is a tree of life to all them that do his will."

Ah, cruel was the day, and yet not cruel, when the cruel tyrant of the Greeks set the fire blazing for his barbarous braziers, and with his passions boiling brought to the catapult and back again to his tortures the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham, and blinded the eyeballs of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and slew them with many kinds of torment.

And his members are with him. And on them do I stand, and He loves me:

So that thou mayest, not draw them back and take them again:

So that thou mayest, not draw them back and take them again:

A cloud of darkness shall fall on their eyes; and an air of thick gloom shall darken them:

For everyone knew them in the Lord, and they lived by the water of life for ever. Hallelujah.

Because He it is that is incorrupt, the fulness of the ages and the Father of them.

He hath given Him to be seen of them that are His, in order that they may recognize Him that made them: and that they might not suppose that they came of themselves:

He hath given Him to be seen of them that are His, in order that they may recognize Him that made them: and that they might not suppose that they came of themselves:

For I do not turn away my face from them that are mine;

For I know them, and before they came into being I took knowledge of them, and on their faces I set my seal:

For I know them, and before they came into being I took knowledge of them, and on their faces I set my seal:

I fashioned their members: my own breasts I prepared for them, that they might drink my holy milk and live thereby.

Who then shall rise up against my handiwork, or who is there that is not subject to them?

And my righteousness goeth before them and they shall not be deprived of my name, for it is with them.

And my righteousness goeth before them and they shall not be deprived of my name, for it is with them.

took pleasure in them and am not ashamed of them:

took pleasure in them and am not ashamed of them:

To convert the souls of them who are willing to come to Him; and to lead captive a good captivity for freedom.

And I was unpolluted by my love for them, because they confessed me in high places: and the traces of the light were set upon their heart:

And they have turned back the bitterness of the trees from them, when they were planted in thy, land;

And they knew Him who made them, because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spake to them; and His explanation ran by means of it:

And they knew Him who made them, because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spake to them; and His explanation ran by means of it:

Behold! the Lord is our mirror: open the eyes and see them in Him: and learn the manner of your face:

As the sun is the joy to them that seek for its daybreak, so is my joy the Lord;

And all that have seen me were amazed: and I was regarded by them as a strange person:

And I went over all my bondmen to loose them; that I might not leave any man bound or binding:

And I sowed my fruits in hearts, and transformed them into myself: and they received my blessing and lived;

O Lord, for the sake of them that are deficient do not remove thy word from me!

And they mocked at them that were walking in error;

And they spake truth from the inspiration which the Most High breathed into them; Praise and great comeliness to His name Hallelujah.

For His thought is not like the thought of the world nor the thought of the flesh, nor like them that serve carnally.

He who gave me authority over bonds that I might loose them;

And thou didst choose them from the graves and didst separate them from the dead.

And thou didst choose them from the graves and didst separate them from the dead.

Thou didst take dead bones and didst cover them with bodies.

They were motionless, and thou didst give them energy for life.

Because it was not permitted to them to loose its seal: for the power that was over the seal was greater than they.

And no food was given to them, because it did not belong to them;

And no food was given to them, because it did not belong to them;

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

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

And the Lord destroyed the imaginations of all them that had not the truth with them.

And the Lord destroyed the imaginations of all them that had not the truth with them.

For they who in their hearts were lifted up were deficient in wisdom, and so they were rejected, because the truth was not with them.

Who can write the Psalms of the Lord, or who read them?

Like a river which has an abundant fountain, and flows to the help of them that seek it. Hallelujah.

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 they sought for my death and did not find it: for I was older than the memorial of them;

They sought to destroy the memorial of him who was before them.

That I might subdue the imaginations of the peoples; and the power of the men of might to bring them low:

And they made me a debtor when I rose up, me who had been a debtor: and they divided my spoil, though nothing was due to them.

But I endured and held my peace and was silent, as if not, moved by them.

To the blessed there is joy from their hearts, and light from Him that dwells in them:

My chosen ones walk in me, and my ways I will make known to them that seek me, and I will make them trust in my name. Hallelujah.

My chosen ones walk in me, and my ways I will make known to them that seek me, and I will make them trust in my name. Hallelujah.

And there came forth from them a smoke and a judgment; and I was keeping quiet in the order of the Lord:

And give them to drink of the wine of their intoxication, and remove their wisdom and knowledge, and so they make them without intelligence;

And give them to drink of the wine of their intoxication, and remove their wisdom and knowledge, and so they make them without intelligence;

And then they leave them; and then these go about like madmen corrupting: seeing that-they are without heart, nor do they seek for it!

For they are more swift than lightning and more rapid, and those who cross them in faith are not moved;

And those who walk on them without blemish shall not be afraid.

For the sign in them is the Lord; and the sign is the way of those who cross in the name of the Lord;

The Lord has bridged them by His word; and He walked and crossed them on foot:

The Lord has bridged them by His word; and He walked and crossed them on foot:

And I rose up and am with them; and I will speak by their mouths.

For they have despised those who persecuted them;

And I lifted up over them the yoke of my love;

And I made a congregation of living men amongst his dead men, and I spake with them by living lips: