1.七兄弟的殉道 也有这样的事，七个兄弟和他们的母亲被捕，并被王用鞭子和绳子折磨，强迫他们吃违法的猪肉。The Martyrdom of Seven Brothers It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh.
2.他们中间有一人作为他们的发言人，说：“你们想向我们问什么，想从我们这里学到什么呢？因为我们宁愿死，也不愿违背我们祖宗的律法。”One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.”
3.王大怒，下令烧热大锅和大瓮。The king fell into a rage, and gave orders that pans and caldrons be heated.
4.这些人立即被烤热，他命令割掉他们发言人的舌头，并且剥去他的头皮，砍掉他的手和脚，而其他兄弟和母亲都在旁观。These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on.
5.当他完全没有办法时，王下令将他活活地带到火边，在锅中煎炸他。锅中的烟气四散，但兄弟和他们的母亲彼此鼓励，要光荣地死去，说When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying,
6.主神照顾我们，并诚然怜悯我们，正如摩西在他的诗歌中所宣告的，这诗歌是对着百姓面对面作的见证，当他说，‘他必怜悯他的仆人’。“The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song which bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.’”
7.第一個兄弟死了以後，他們把第二個兄弟帶出來，當作戲弄。他们把他头皮上的头发连同头皮一起剥下来，又问他说，“你愿意吃了吗，还是要一寸一寸地受苦？”After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?”
8.他用祖先的语言回答说：“不。”因此他也遭受了和头一个哥哥一样的折磨。He replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, “No.” Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done.
9.当他快要断气的时候，他说：“你这可恶的人，你可能会使我们离开现在的生活，但宇宙的君王将使我们复活到永恒生命的更新之中，因为我们是为他的律法而死的。”And when he was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.”
10.在他之后，第三个成了他们戏弄的对象。当要求他时，他迅速地伸出舌头，并勇敢地伸出双手，After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands,
11.他高尚地说：“我是从上天得到这些的，因着他的律法我就鄙视它们，也从他那里希望再得到它们。”and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.”
12.于是，王和与他在一起的人都对这少年人的精神感到惊讶，因为他把自己的苦难当作毫无所有。As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
13.他死后，他们同样残酷地折磨和虐待了第四个兄弟。When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way.
14.临近死的时候，他说：“人不能不选择死在人手中，并且怀着神所赐的复活希望。但是你们将没有复活的生命！”And when he was near death, he said, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!”
15.他们又带出第五个并残害他。Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him.
16.但他看着王说，因为你在人间有权柄，虽是肉身，你愿意怎样就怎样。但不要以为神已经离弃了我们的百姓。But he looked at the king, and said, “Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people.
17.继续下去，瞧他的大能如何折磨你和你的后代！Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!”
18.在他之后，他们提出了第六个。就在他要死的时候，他说：“不要徒劳地欺骗自己。因为我们遭受这些事是因为自己的缘故，是因为我们得罪了自己的神。因此，奇妙的事情发生了。After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, “Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened.
19.但不要以为你们试图与神抗争就能不受惩罚！But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!”
20.这位母亲尤其值得钦佩和尊敬的回忆。尽管她在一天之内见证了七个儿子相继去世，但她因为对主的信仰而以勇气承受了这一切。The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord.
21.她用他们祖先的语言鼓励他们每一个人。充满高尚的精神，她以男性的勇气激发了女性的理性，对他们说，She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them,
22.我不知道你们如何在我的腹中形成，这不是我赐予你们生命和气息，也不是我安排你们体内的各个元素。“I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you.
23.因此，创造世界的上帝，他塑造了人类的开始，并设计了万物的起源，他将在他的怜悯中，再次给予你们生命和呼吸，因为你们现在为了他的律法而忘记了自己。Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”
24.安提阿古觉得自己受到了轻蔑，他对她谴责的语气也很怀疑。最小的兄弟还活着，安提阿古不仅用言语对他进行说服，还用誓言承诺，如果他放弃父亲的道理，就会让他富有并令人羡慕，他还会把他当作朋友，并委托他处理国事。Anti′ochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone. The youngest brother being still alive, Anti′ochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his fathers, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs.
25.由于年轻人根本不听他的话，王召见了他的母亲，催促她劝说年轻人自己逃命。Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself.
26.在他的一再催促下，她决定说服她的儿子。After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son.
27.但是，她靠近他，用他们的母语对他说，如下所述，嘲笑残酷的暴君：“我的儿子，请可怜我，我怀了你九个月，在我的子宫里，哺育你三年，并养育你，抚养你到你生命的这一刻，并照顾你。But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: “My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you.
28.我求你，我的孩子，抬头看天，俯首看地，观察其中一切，并承认神不是从已经存在的东西中创造它们。同样，人类也是这样来的。I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being.
29.不要怕这个刽子手，要配得上你的兄弟。接受死亡，这样在神的怜悯中，我可以再和你的兄弟一起把你接回来。Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers.”
30.她还在说话的时候，年轻人说：“你在等什么呢？我不遵守王的命令，但我遵守通过摩西传给我们祖先的律法的命令。While she was still speaking, the young man said, “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses.
31.然而你们这些策划了各种恶事来对付希伯来人的，一定不会脱离上帝的手。But you, who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God.
32.因为我们遭受苦难是由于自己的罪过。For we are suffering because of our own sins.
33.如果我们活着的主稍微发怒，是为了责备和管教我们，他必再与自己的仆人和好。And if our living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants.
34.然而你，这个不圣洁的可怜人，你是所有人中最被污染的，不要因不确定的希望而自高自大和自夸，当你对天之子举起手来的时候。But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all men, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven.
35.你们还没有逃脱全能、全知的神的审判。You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God.
36.我们的弟兄们虽然遭受暂时的苦难，但已经在神的约下享受了源源不断的生命；然而你们要按照神的判断，因你们的狂妄而受到公正的惩罚。For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk of everflowing life under God’s covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance.
37.我和我的兄弟一样，舍弃身体和生命，为守我们祖宗的律法，恳求神早日怜悯我们的国家，并用灾祸和瘟疫使你承认只有他是神，I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our fathers, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by afflictions and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God,
38.并通过我和我的兄弟们结束降临在我们整个国家的全能者的愤怒，这是我们应得的。and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly fallen on our whole nation.”
39.国王大怒，更加残酷地对待他，因为他被那人的蔑视激怒了。The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn.
40.他以完整的品格死去，全然信靠耶和华。So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord.
41.最后，母亲在她的儿子们之后去世。Last of all, the mother died, after her sons.
42.就食祭和极端折磨的事说到这里吧。Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.