by Septuagint
[29] O holy mother of a nation avenger of the law, and defender of religion, and prime bearer in the battle of the affections! [30] O thou nobler in endurance than males, and more manly than men in patience! [31] For as the ark of Noah, bearing the world in the world-filling flood, bore up against the waves, [32] so thou, the guardian of the law, when surrounded on every side by the flood of passions, and straitened by violent storms which were the torments of they children, didst bear up nobly against the storms against religion.
Chapter 16
[1] If, then, even a woman, and that an aged one, and the mother of seven children, endured to see her children’s torments even unto death, confessedly religious reasoning is master even of the passions.
[2] I have proved, then, that not only men have obtained the mastery of their passions, but also that a woman despised the greatest torments. [3] And not so fierce were the lions round Daniel, nor the furnace of Misael burning with most vehement fires as that natural love of children burned within her, when she beheld her seven sons tortured. [4] But with the reasoning of religion the mother quenched passions so great and powerful.
[5] For we must consider also this: that, had the woman been faint hearted, as being their other, she would have lamented over them; and perhaps might have spoken thus:
[6] Ah! wretched I, and many times miserable; who having born seven sons, have become the mother of none. [7] O seven useless childbirths, and seven profitless periods of labour, and fruitless givings of suck, and miserable nursings at the breast. [8] Vainly, for your sakes, O sons, have I endured many pangs, and the more difficult anxieties of rearing. [9] Alas, of my children, some of you unmarried, and some who have married to no profit, I shall not see your children, nor be felicitated as a grandmother. [10] Ah, that I who had many and fair children, should be a lone widow full of sorrows! [11] Nor, should I die, shall I have a son to bury me.
But with such a lament is this the holy and God-fearing mother bewailed none of them. [12] Nor did she divert any of them from death, nor grieve for them as for the dead. [13] But as one possessed with an adamantine mind, and as one bringing forth again her full number of sons to immortality, she rather with supplication exhorted them to death in behalf of religion.
[14] O woman, soldier of God for religion, thou, aged and a female, hast conquered through endurance even a tyrant; and though but weak, hast been found more powerful in deeds and words. [15] For when thou wast seized along with thy children, thou stoodest looking upon Eleazar in torments, and saidst to thy sons in the Hebrew tongue,
[16] O sons, noble is the contest; to which you being called as a witness for the nation, strive zealously for the laws of your country. [17] For it were disgraceful that this old man should endure pains for the sake of righteousness, and that you who are younger should be afraid of the tortures.
[18] Remember that through God ye obtained existence, and have enjoyed it. [19] And on this second account ye ought to bear every affliction because of God. [20] For whom also our father Abraham was forward to sacrifice Isaac our progenitor, and shuddered not at the sight of his own paternal hand descending down with the sword upon him. [21] And the righteous Daniel was cast unto the lions; and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, were slung out into a furnace of fire; yet they endured through God. [22] You, then, having the same faith towards God, be not troubled. [23] For it is unreasonable that they who know religion should not stand up against troubles.
[24] With these arguments, the mother of seven, exhorting each of her sons, over-persuaded them from transgressing the commandment of God. [25] And they saw this, too, that they who die for God, live to God; as Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.
Chapter 17
[1] And some of the spearbearers said, that when she herself was about to be seized for the purpose of being put to death, she threw herself upon the pile, rather than they should touch her person.
[2] O thou mother, who together with seven children didst destroy the violence of the tyrant, and render void his wicked intentions, and exhibit the nobleness of faith! [3] For thou, as an house bravely built upon the pillar of thy children, didst bear without swaying, the shock of tortures.
[4] Be of good cheer, therefore, O holy-minded mother! holding the firm [substance of the] hope of your steadfastness with God. [5] Not so gracious does the moon appear with the stars in heaven, as thou art established honourable before God, and fixed in the firmament with thy sons who thou didst illuminate with religion to the stars. [6] For thy bearing of children was after the fashion of a child of Abraham.
[7] And, were it lawful for us to paint as on a tablet the religion of thy story, the spectators would not shudder at beholding the mother of seven children enduring for the sake of religion various tortures even unto death. [8] And it had been a worth thing to have inscribed upon the tomb itself these words as a memorial to those of the nation, [9] Here an aged priest, and an aged woman, and seven sons, are buried through the violence of a tyrant, who wished to destroy the polity of the Hebrews. [10] These also avenged their nation, looking unto God, and enduring torments unto death.
[11] For it was truly a divine contest which was carried through by them. [12] For at that time virtue presided over the contest, approving the victory through endurance, namely, immortality, eternal life. [13] Eleazar was the first to contend: and the mother of the seven children entered the contest; and the brethren contended. [14] The tyrant was the opposite; and the world and living men were the spectators. [15] And reverence for God conquered, and crowned her own athletes.
[16] Who did not admire those champions of true legislation? who were not astonied? [17] The tyrant himself, and all their council, admired their endurance; [18] through which, also, they now stand beside the divine throne, and live a blessed life. [19] For Moses saith, And all the saints are under thine hands.
[20] These, therefore, having been sanctified through God, have been honoured not only with this honour, but that also by their means the enemy did not overcome our nation; [21] and that the tyrant was punished, and their country purified. [22] For they became the atnipoised to the sin of the nation; and the Divine Providence saved Israel, aforetime afflicted, by the blood of those pious ones, and the propitiatory death.
[23] For the tyrant Antiochus, looking to their manly virtue, and to their endurance in torture, proclaimed that endurance as an example to his soldiers. [24] And they proved to be to him noble and brave for land battles and for sieges; and he conquered and stormed the towns of all his enemies.
Chapter 18
[1] O Israelitish children, descendants of the seed of Abraham, obey this law, and in every way be religious. [2] Knowing that religious reasoning is lord of the passions, and those not only inward but outward.
[3] When those persons giving up their bodies to pains for the sake of religion, were not only admired by men, but were deemed worthy of a divine portion. [4] And the nation through them obtained peace, and having renewed the observance of the law in their country, drove the enemy out of the land. [5] And the tyrant Antiochus was both punished upon earth, and is punished now he is dead; for when he was quite unable to compel the Israelites to adopt foreign customs, and to desert the manner of life of their fathers, [6] then, departing from Jerusalem, he made war against the Persians.
[7] And the righteous mother of the seven children spake also as follows to her offspring: I was a pure virgin, and went not beyond my father’s house; but I took care of the built-up rib. [8] No destroyer of the desert, or ravisher of the plain, injured me; nor did the destructive, deceitful snake, make spoil of my chaste virginity; and I remained with my husband during the period of my prime.
[9] And these my children, having arrive at maturity, their father died: blessed was he! for having sought out a life of fertility in children, he was not grieved with a period of loss of children. [10] And he used to teach you, when yet with you, the law and the prophets.
[11] He used to read to you the slaying of Abel
by Cain, and the offering up of Isaac, and the imprisonment of Joseph. [12] And he used to tell you of the zealous Phinehas; and informed you of Ananias and Azarias, and Misael in the fire. [13] And he used to glorify Daniel, who was in the den of lions, and pronounce him blessed.
[14] And he used to put you in mind of the scripture of Esaias, which saith, Even if thou pass through the fire, it shall not burn thee. [15] He chanted to you David, the hymn-writer, who saith, Many are the afflictions of the just. [16] He declared the proverbs of Solomon, who saith, He is a tree of life to all those who do His will. [17] He used to verify Ezekiel, who said, Shall these dry bones live? [18] For he did not forget the song which Moses taught, proclaiming, I will kill, and I will make to live. [19] This is our life, and the length of our days.
[20] O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the bitter tyrant of the Greeks, quenching fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapelt, and to all his torments! [21] He pierced the balls of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with varied tortures. [22] Wherefore divine retribution pursued and will pursue the pestilent wretch.
[23] But the children of Abraham, with their victorious mother, are assembled together to the choir of their fathers; having received pure and immortal souls from God. [24] To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Job
Chapter 1
[1] There was a certain man in the land of Ausis, whose name was Job; and than man was true, blameless, righteous, and godly, abstaining from everything evil. [2] And he had seven sons and three daughters. [3] And his cattle consisted of seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses in the pastures, and a very great household, and he had a great husbandry on the earth; and that man was most noble of the men of the east.
[4] And his sons visiting one another prepared a banquet every day, taking with them also their three sisters to eat and drink with them. [5] And when the days of the banquet were completed, Job sent and purified them, having risen up in the morning, and offered sacrifices for them, according to their number, and one calf for a sin-offering for their souls: for Job said, Lest peradventure my sons have thought evil in their minds against God. Thus, then Job did continually.
[6] And it came to pass on a day, that behold, the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them. [7] And the Lord said to the devil, Whence art thou come? And the devil answered the Lord, and said, I am come from compassing the earth, and walking up and down in the world. [8] And the Lord said to him, Hast thou diligently considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a man blameless, true, godly, abstaining from everything evil? [9] Then the devil answered, and said before the Lord, Does Job worship the Lord for nothing? [10] Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his household, and all his possessions round about? and hast thou not blessed the works of his hands, and multiplied his cattle upon the land? [11] But put forth thine hand, and touch all that he has: verily he will bless thee to thy face. [12] Then the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I give into thine hand all that he has, but touch not himself. So the devil went out from the presence of the Lord.
[13] And it came to pass on a certain day, that Job’s sons and his daughters were drinking wine in the house of their elder brother. [14] And, behold, there came a messenger to Job, and said to him, The yokes of oxen were ploughing, and the she-asses were feeding near them; [15] and the spoilers came and took them for a prey, and slew the servants with the sword; and I having escaped alone am come to tell thee. [16] While he was yet speaking, there came another messenger, and said to Job, Fire has fallen from heaven, and burnt up the sheep, and devoured the shepherds like wise; and I having escaped alone am come to tell thee. [17] While he was yet speaking, there came another messenger, and said to Job, The horsemen formed three companies against us, and surrounded the camels, and took them for a prey, and slew the servants with the sword; and I only escaped, and am come to tell thee. [18] While he is yet speaking, another messenger comes, saying to Job, While thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking with their elder brother, [19] suddenly a great wind came on from the desert, and caught the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon thy children, and they are dead; and I have escaped alone, and am come to tell thee.
[20] So Job arose, and rent his garments, and shaved the hair of his head, and fell on the earth, and worshipped, [21] and said, I myself came forth naked from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: as it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord. [22] In all these events that befell him Job sinned not at all before the Lord, and did not impute folly to God.
Chapter 2
[1] And it came to pass on a certain day, that the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came among them to stand before the Lord. [2] And the Lord, said to the devil, Whence comest thou? Then the devil said before the Lord, I am come from going through the world, and walking about the whole earth. [3] And the Lord said to the devil, Hast thou then observed my servant Job, that there is none of men upon the earth like him, a harmless, true, blameless, godly man, abstaining from all evil? and he yet cleaves to innocence, whereas thou has told me to destroy his substance without cause? [4] And the devil answered and said to the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life. [5] Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will bless thee to thy face. [6] And the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life. [7] So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from his feet to his head. [8] And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city. [9] And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, even thy sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die. [10] But he looked on her, and said to her, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?
In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.
[11] Now his three friends having heard of all the evil that was come upon him, came to him each from his own country: Eliphaz the king of the Thaemans, Baldad sovereign of the Saucheans, Sophar king of he Minaeans: and they came to him with one accord, to comfort and to visit him. [12] And when they saw him from a distance they did not know him; and they cried with a loud voice, and wept, and rent every one his garment, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, [13] and they sat down beside him seven days and seven nights, and no one of them spoke; for they saw that his affliction was dreadful and very great.
Chapter 3
[1] After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day, [2] saying,
[3] Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a man-child! [4] Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it. [5] But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it; [6] let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months. [7] But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy. [8] But let him that curses that day curse it, even he that is ready to attack the great whale. [9] Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain dark, and not come into light; and let it not s
ee the morning star arise: [10] because it shut not up the gates of my mother’s womb, for so it would have removed sorrow from my eyes.
[11] For why died I not in the belly? and why did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately? [12] and why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts? [13] Now I should have lain down and been quiet, I should have slept and been at rest, [14] with kings and councillors of the earth, who gloried in their swords; [15] or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver: [16] or I should have been as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother’s womb, or as infants who never saw light. [17] There the ungodly have burnt out the fury of rage; there the wearied in body rest. [18] And the men of old time have together ceased to hear the exactor’s voice. [19] The small and great are there, and the servant that feared his lord.
[20] For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in griefs? [21] who desire death, and obtain it not, digging for it as for treasures; [22] and would be very joyful if they should gain it? [23] Death is rest to such a man, for God has hedged him in. [24] For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep being beset with terror. [25] For the terror of which I meditated has come upon me, and that which I had feared has befallen me. [26] I was not at peace, nor quiet, nor had I rest; yet wrath came upon me.