4 Maccabees 17:21-23

Common English Bible

²¹ The tyrant was punished, and our nation was cleansed through them. They exchanged their lives for the nation’s sin. ²² Divine providence delivered Israel from its former abuse through the blood of those godly people. Their deaths were a sacrifice that finds mercy^[a] from God.

²³ When he saw their extraordinary courage and their commitment in the face of torture, the tyrant Antiochus held up their endurance as an example to his own soldiers.