4 Maccabees Chapter 10 (KJV)
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Now this one endured this praiseworthy death. The third was brought along, and exhorted by many to taste and save his life.
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But he cried out and said, “Don’t you know that the father of those who are dead is my father also, and that the same mother bore me, and that I was brought up in the same way?
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I don’t renounce the noble relationship of my kindred.
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Now then, whatever instrument of vengeance you have, apply it to my body, for you aren’t able to touch my soul, even if you want to.”
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But they, highly incensed at his boldness of speech, dislocated his hands and feet with racking engines, and wrenching them from their sockets, dismembered him.
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They dragged around his fingers, his arms, his legs, and his ankles.
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Not being able by any means to strangle him, they tore off his skin, together with the extreme tips of his fingers, and then dragged him to the wheel,
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around which his vertebral joints were loosened, and he saw his own flesh torn to shreds, and streams of blood flowing from his entrails.
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When about to die, he said,
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“We, O accursed tyrant, suffer this for the sake of Divine education and virtue.
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But you, for your impiety and blood shedding, will endure unceasing torments.”
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Thus having died worthily of his kindred, they dragged forward the fourth, saying,
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“Don’t share the madness of your kindred, but respect the king and save yourself.”
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But he said to them, “You don’t have a fire so scorching as to make me play the coward.
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By the blessed death of my kindred, and the eternal punishment of the tyrant, and the glorious life of the pious, I will not repudiate the noble brotherhood.
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Invent, O tyrant, tortures, that you may learn, even through them, that I am the brother of those tormented before.”
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When he had said this, the blood-thirsty, murderous, and unholy Antiochus ordered his tongue to be cut out.
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But he said, “Even if you take away the organ of speech, God still hears the silent.
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Behold, my tongue is extended, cut it off; for in spite of that you won’t silence our reasoning.
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We gladly lose our limbs on behalf of God.
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But God will speedily find you, since you cut off the tongue, the instrument of divine melody.”
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