1508 verses about Anger

came to Ptolemais. The men of Ptolemais were displeased at the treaty, for they had exceeding great indignation against the Jews: they desired to annul the articles of the agreement.

And when he had spoken such words as these, at once the rest of the king’s Friends, having ill will against Judas, inflamed Demetrius yet more.

And the king, falling into a rage, and being exasperated by the calumnnies of that most wicked man, wrote to Nicanor, signifying that he was displeased at the covenants, and commanding him to send Maccabaeus prisoner to Antioch in all haste.

And when this message came to Nicanor, he was confounded, and was sore troubled at the thought of annulling the articles that had been agreed upon, the man having done no wrong;

he stretched forth his right hand toward the sanctuary, and sware this oath: If you⌃ will not deliver up to me Judas as a prisoner, I will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and will break down the altar, and I will erect here a temple to Bacchus for all to see.

And Nicanor, wishing to make evident the ill will that he bare to the Jews, sent above five hundred soldiers to take him;

And when the Jews that were compelled to follow him said, O destroy not so savagely and barbarously, but give due glory to the day which he that sees all things has honored and hallowed above other days;

and cutting out the tongue of the impious Nicanor, he said that he would give it by pieces to the birds, and hang up the rewards of his madness near the sanctuary.

But the king of Egypt sent to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judea?

so far forth, that he, being angry with his people for their great ungodliness, commanded to bring up the kings of the Chaldeans against them;

Wherefore now we do declare to you, O lord the king, that if this city be built again, and the walls thereof set up anew, you shall from henceforth have no passage into Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

and when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and kindred, and a little after draw their swords:

But when our fathers sinned against the Lord of Israel which is in heaven, and provoked him to wrath, he gave them over into the hands of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, king of the Chaldeans;

You was not angry with us to destroy us, till you had left us neither root, seed, nor name.

and with them the rulers and judges of every place, till we turn away the wrath of the Lord from us for this matter.

for the majesty of your glory can’t be borne, and the anger of your threatening toward sinners is importable:

Well; since I have done this, said he, be the cause what it may, shall I not enter with or without your consent?

Women, but recently separated off, left their bridal chambers, left the reserve that befitted them, and ran about the city in a disorderly manner.

The elders who surrounded the king strove in many ways to divert his haughty mind from the design which he had formed.

He, in his hardened mood, insensible to all persuasion, was going onwards with the view of carrying out this design.

Such was the frequency and the vehemence of the cry of the assembled crowd, that an indescribable noise ensued.

Punish us not by means of the uncleanness of their men, nor chastise us by means of their profanity; lest the lawless ones should boast in their rage, and exult in exuberant pride of speech, and say,

When in course of time he had come to himself, this severe check caused no repentance within him, but he departed with bitter threatenings.

On discovering this, so incensed was the wicked king, that he no longer confined his rage to the Jews in Alexandria. Laying his hand more heavily upon those who lived in the country, he gave orders that they should be quickly collected into one place, and most cruelly deprived of their lives.

they were so carried away by their old arrogance, as to forbid us the entrance; while we, out of our forbearance toward all men, refrained from exercising our power upon them.

And thus, exhibiting their enmity against us, they alone among the nations lift up their heads against kings and benefactors, as men unwilling to submit to any thing reasonable.

All this, however, they have taken in a very different spirit. With their innate malignity, they have spurned the fair offer; and constantly inclining to evil,

Having then, received certain proofs that these Jews bear us every sort of ill-will, we must look forward to the possibility of some sudden tumult among ourselves, when these impious men may turn traitors and barbarous enemies.

Wherever this decree was received, the people kept up a revelry of joy and shouting; as if their long-pent-up, hardened hatred, were now to show itself openly.

was full of rage, and commanded that they should be carefully subjected to the same (and not one whit milder) treatment.

The king threatened them, and charged them with taking bribes, in order to contrive the escape of the Jews: but was clearly convinced of the truth of what had been said.

Then he called Hermon, who had charge of the elephants. Full of rage, altogether fixed in his furious design,

he commanded him, with a quantity of unmixed wine and handfuls of incense infused to drug the elephants early on the following day. These five hundred elephants were, when infuriated by the copious draughts of frankincense, to be led up to the execution of death upon the Jews.

The king, after issuing these orders, went to his feasting, and gathered together all those of his friends and of the army who hated the Jews the most.

Then Hermon, who had filled his merciless elephants with copious draughts of mingled wine and frankincense, came early to the palace to certify the kind thereof.

Conversation grew on, and the king sent for Hermon, and enquired of him, with fierce denunciations, why the Jews had been allowed to outlive that day.

The king was filled with fierce anger at these words; for, by the Providence of God regarding these things, his mind had become entirely confused. He looked hard at Hermon, and threatened him as follows:

And he summoned Hermon to his presence, and said, with threats, How often, O wretch, must I repeat my orders to you about these same persons?

O king, how long do you make trial of us, as of men bereft of reason? This is the third time that you have ordered their destruction. When the thing is to be done, you change your mind, and recall your instructions.

The king, just like another Phalaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Jews. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined forthwith to send them to hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants.

And the master of the elephants urged the beasts into an almost maniacal state, drenched them with incense and wine, and decked them with frightful instruments.

The king’s heart teemed with impious rage; and he rushed forth with the mass, along with the elephants. With feelings unsoftened, and eyes pitiless, he longed to gaze at the hard and wretched doom of the above-mentioned Jews .

The king’s wrath was converted into compassion; and he wept at his own machinations.

For when he heard the cry, and saw them all on the verge of destruction, with tears he angrily threatened his friends, saying,

You⌃ have governed badly; and have exceeded tyrants in cruelty; and me your benefactor you⌃ have laboured to deprive at once of my dominion and my life, by secretly devising measures injurious to the kingdom.

Those who had marked them out as for death and for carrion, and had registered them with joy, howled aloud, and were clothed with shame, and had the fire of their rage ingloriously put out.

Certain of our friends did of malice vehemently urge us to punish the Jews of our realm in a body, with the infliction of a monstrous punishment.

Did I not bring them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? but they have provoked me to wrath, and have despised my counsels.

and you⌃ triumphed not in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but ever to this day do you⌃ yet murmur.

saying, Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness.

Thus says the Lord Almighty, When you⌃ were in the wilderness, at the bitter river, being thirsty, and blaspheming my name,

If you do so much hate your people, they should be punished with your own hands.

whose look dries up the depths, and whose indignation makes the mountains to melt away, and whose truth bears witness:

For what is man, that you should take displeasure at him? or what is a corruptible race, that you should be so bitter toward it?

Be not angry with us, but spare your people, and have mercy upon your inheritance; for you have mercy upon your own creation.

Then left I the meditations wherein I was, and answered her in anger, and said,

Behold, says God, I call together all the kings of the earth, to stir up those who are from the rising of the sun, from the south, from the east, and Libanus; to turn themselves one against another, and repay the things that they have done to them.

And a fire is gone forth from his wrath, and has consumed the foundations of the earth, and the sinners, like the straw that is kindled.

Also the Carmonians raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood, and with great power shall they come, and join battle with them, and shall waste a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.

Behold, clouds from the east and from the north to the south, and they are very horrible to look upon, full of wrath and storm.

And strong winds shall arise from the east, and shall shut it up, even the cloud which he raised up in wrath; and the star that was to cause destruction by the east wind shall be violently driven toward the south and west.

And great clouds and mighty and full of wrath shall be lifted up, and the star, that they may destroy all the earth, and those who dwell therein; and they shall pour out over every high and eminent one a terrible star,

They shall come to her, and compass her about; the star and all wrath shall they pour out upon her: then shall the dust and smoke go up to the heaven, and all those who are about her shall bewail her.

Would I with jealousy have so proceeded against you, says the Lord,

if you had not always slain my chosen, exalting the stroke of your hands, and saying over their dead, when you were drunken,

A fire shall go forth from his wrath, and who is he that may quench it?

the more will I hate them for their sins, says the Lord.

For, behold, the burning wrath of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they shall take away certain of you, and feed you with that which is slain to idols.

it surely also and manifestly has the rule over the affections which are contrary to justice, such as malice; and of those which are hindrances to manliness, as wrath, and pain, and fear.

Let us determine, then, What is reasoning? and what passion? and how many forms of the passions? and whether reasoning bears sway over all of these?

Wrath is an affection, common to pleasure and to pain, if any one will pay attention when it comes upon him.

For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does wrath: for it masters even this.

Thus Moses, when angered against Dathan and Abiram, did nothing to them in wrath, but regulated his anger by reasoning.

For why, else, does our most wise father Jacob blame Simeon and Levi for having irrationally slain the whole race of the Shechemites, saying, Cursed be their anger.

For if reasoning did not possess the power of subduing angry affections, he would not have spoken thus.

One may not be able to root out anger from the soul, but it is possible to withstand anger.

And the nation, indignant at this proclamation, and replying to the effect that it was extremely unfair that those who had committed deposits to the sacred treasury should be deprived of them, resisted as well as they could.

But Appolonius went away with threats into the temple.

At which Divine vengeance being grieved, instigated Antiochus himself against them.

For being at war with Ptolemy in Egypt, he heard that on a report of his death being spread abroad, the inhabitants of Jerusalem had exceedingly rejoiced, and he quickly marched against them.

Then, indeed, vehemently swayed with passion, he commanded to bring others of the adult Hebrews, and if they would eat of the unclean thing, to let them go when they had eaten; but if they objected, to torment them more grievously.

For if you provoke me by your disobedience, you will compel me to destroy you, every one, with terrible punishments by tortures.

Whence has such angry zeal taken root in us, and such fatal obstinacy approved itself to us, when we might live unmolested by the king?

O tyrant, counsellor of law-breaking, do not, hating us as you do, pity us more than we pity ourselves.

When they had thus spoken, the tyrant was not only exasperated against them as being refractory, but enraged with them as being ungrateful.

But they, highly incensed at his boldness of speech, dislocated his hands and feet with racking engines, and wrenching them from their sockets, dismembered him.

O you hater of virtue and of men, what have we done that you thus revel in our blood?

I, too, bearing with me a great avenger, O deviser of tortures, and enemy of the truly pious.

Were you not ashamed, man as you are, yet most savage, to cut out the tongues of men of like feeling and origin, and having thus abused to torture them?

O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the bitter tyrant of the Greeks, quenching fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapelt, and to all his torments!

When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ Exodus 20:13 and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’

But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.

“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?

You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.