4. while an official kept calling out, "Obey the king’s orders!"
5. But Eleazar was dignified and generous. He experienced the truth of his name and seemed like a person being tortured only in a dream. He didn’t change his resolve in any way.
6. The old man kept his eyes raised toward heaven while the whips tore into his flesh, ripped his sides, and made his blood flow.
7. His body fell to the ground because it couldn’t stand the pain, but he kept his thinking upright and unbending.
8. One of the cruel guards rushed up to him and started kicking him in his side to make him stand up again.
9. But Eleazar endured the pain, ignored the agony, and put up with the suffering.
10. Like an honorable athlete in the games, the old man defeated his torturers while they were beating him up.
11. His face dripping with sweat and gasping for breath, he amazed even the torturers with his courage.
12. Some members of the king’s staff were moved by Eleazar’s situation, partly out of pity for his old age,
13. partly because of their previous relationship with him, and partly out of admiration for his endurance. These people came to him and said,