2 Maccabees 6:21-23

New Catholic Bible

²¹ The officials in charge of this sacrilegious meal took the man aside privately because of their long acquaintance with him and urged him to bring meat of his own providing that he was permitted to eat, and to pretend that he was eating the sacrificial meat that had been commanded by the king. ²² In this way he would be saved from death and be treated kindly as a result of their long-standing friendship. ²³ But, making an honorable decision, worthy of his years and of the dignity of his advanced age, and of the gray hairs he had attained and worn with distinction, and of his impeccable conduct even from childhood, but worthy above all of the holy law given by God, he told them to dispatch him immediately to the abode of the dead.