The Powered Access Bible:
Passage Lookup

IV Maccabees 2, RSV

  
Passage reference, like "I Corinthians 13"
Permalink

2:1 And why is it amazing that the desires of the mind for the enjoyment of beauty are rendered powerless?

2:2 It is for this reason, certainly, that the temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.

2:3 For when he was young and in his prime for intercourse, by his reason he nullified the frenzy of the passions.

2:4 Not only is reason proved to rule over the frenzied urge of sexual desire, but also over every desire.

2:5 Thus the law says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife...or anything that is your neighbor's."

2:6 In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires. Just so it is with the emotions that hinder one from justice.

2:7 Otherwise how could it be that someone who is habitually a solitary gormandizer, a glutton, or even a drunkard can learn a better way, unless reason is clearly lord of the emotions?

2:8 Thus, as soon as a man adopts a way of life in accordance with the law, even though he is a lover of money, he is forced to act contrary to his natural ways and to lend without interest to the needy and to cancel the debt when the seventh year arrives.

2:9 If one is greedy, he is ruled by the law through his reason so that he neither gleans his harvest nor gathers the last grapes from the vineyard. In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.

2:10 For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.

2:11 It is superior to love for one's wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.

2:12 It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.

2:13 It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.

2:14 Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.

2:15 It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice.

2:16 For the temperate mind repels all these malicious emotions, just as it repels anger -- for it is sovereign over even this.

2:17 When Moses was angry with Dathan and Abiram he did nothing against them in anger, but controlled his anger by reason.

2:18 For, as I have said, the temperate mind is able to get the better of the emotions, to correct some, and to render others powerless.

2:19 Why else did Jacob, our most wise father, censure the households of Simeon and Levi for their irrational slaughter of the entire tribe of the Shechemites, saying, "Cursed be their anger"?

2:20 For if reason could not control anger, he would not have spoken thus.

2:21 Now when God fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations,

2:22 but at the same time he enthroned the mind among the senses as a sacred governor over them all.

2:23 To the mind he gave the law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous.

2:24 How is it then, one might say, that if reason is master of the emotions, it does not control forgetfulness and ignorance?

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Permalink
Old TestamentApocryphaNew Testament

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

I Esdras
II Esdras
Tobit
Judith
Additions to Esther
Wisdom
Sirach
Baruch
Azariah
Suzanna
Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasseh
I Maccabees
II Maccabees
III Maccabees
IV Maccabees
Psalm 151

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
I Timothy
II Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
I Peter
II Peter
I John
II John
III John
Jude
Revelation

Terms of Use


This site built by C.J.S. Hayward, an Orthodox author with a shelf of interesting books, and a Substack well worth visiting.

Want a place to start reading C.J.S. Hayward's works? See The Angelic Letters and Doxology are included in C.J.S. Hayward in Under 99 Pages.