1'Why dost thou delay, O tyrant? We are ready to die rather than transgress the commandments of our fathers.
2For we should be putting our ancestors also to shame, if we did not walk in obedience to the Law and take Moses as our counsellor.
3O tyrant that counsellest us to transgress the Law, do not, hating us, pity us beyond ourselves.
4For we esteem thy mercy, giving us our life in return for a breach of the Law, a thing harder to bear than death itself.
5Thou wouldst terrify us with thy threats of death under torture, as if a little while ago thou hadst learned nothing from Eleazar.