4 Maccabees 9:28-30

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁸ These leopard-like beasts tore out his sinews with the iron hands, flayed all his flesh up to his chin, and tore away his scalp. But he steadfastly endured this agony and said, ²⁹ “How sweet is any kind of death for our ancestral piety!” ³⁰ To the tyrant he said, “Do you not think, you most savage tyrant, that you are being tortured more than I, as you see the arrogant design of your tyranny being defeated by our endurance for the sake of piety?