¹Like unto you, these were the servants of the Most High JAH: Abya, Seela, and Fentos, who died and arose; that ye also might arise after your death, and your faces shall shine as the sun in the Kingdom of Heaven.

²And they went with those men and received martyrdom there.

³In that hour they made supplication, and gave praise, and bowed down unto JAH. Death did not affright them, neither did the chastisement of the king.

⁴They went toward those youths and were meek as sheep that have no guile. Yet they were not afraid. And when they came unto them, they seized them, and smote them, and bound them, and scourged them, and delivered them unto the king, and set them before him.

⁵The king answered them, saying, "How is it that ye stubborn ones will not sacrifice and bow down unto mine idols?"

⁶The brethren who were cleansed from iniquity, honoured, chosen, and blessed, and who shone as jewels of wondrous worth—Seela, Abya, and Fentos—answered him with one accord.

⁷They spake unto the king, who was a plague, saying, "As for us, we shall not bow down nor sacrifice unto defiled idols that have neither knowledge nor understanding."

⁸"We shall not bow down unto idols of silver and gold, wrought by the hands of men, nor unto stone and wood, that have neither understanding, nor soul, nor knowledge, and that profit not their fellows nor harm their adversaries."

⁹The king asked them, "Wherefore do ye this? And as ye know who hath reproached you and who hath wronged you, wherefore do ye reproach the glorious idols?"

¹⁰They answered him, saying, "As they are but a trifle before us, we shall reproach them and shall not glorify them."

¹¹The king said unto them, "I shall chastise you according to your evil works, and shall destroy your fair countenances with scourging, sore tribulation, and fire.

¹²"Now tell me whether ye shall offer or shall not offer sacrifices unto mine idols. Otherwise, I shall punish you with the sword and with scourging."

¹³They answered him, saying, "As for us, we shall not sacrifice nor bow down unto defiled idols." And the king commanded that they be smitten with a great rod, and scourged with a whip, and rent asunder until their inward parts were laid bare.

¹⁴After this, they were bound and held in a house of bondage until the council of the king determined to punish and to slay them.

¹⁵They were taken without mercy, and bound, and held in sore imprisonment in a prison house; and they sat there three nights and three days.

¹⁶And after the third day, the king commanded that a herald should proclaim, and that counsellors, nobles, elders of the country, and officers should be gathered together.

¹⁷And in that hour, King Tseerutsaydan sat in the court, and he commanded that the honoured ones, Seela, Abya, and Fentos, be brought before him, being wounded and bound.

¹⁸And the king spake unto them, saying, "During these three days that ye have sat, have ye truly repented and turned from your former evil ways?"

¹⁹And the honoured soldiers of JAH answered him, saying, "We have not worshipped the idols full of iniquity and wickedness that thou hast set before us. We shall not forsake the laws of JAH."

²⁰And the king, being wroth, commanded that they be taken unto a high place, and their wounds laid open, and their blood flowed upon the earth.

²¹And he commanded that they be burned with a fiery torch, and that their flesh be scorched; and his servants did as he commanded. But the honoured men spake unto him, saying, "Thou who hast forgotten the law of JAH, hear. Our reward shall be as great as the measure of thy chastisement."

²²And he commanded that bears, and tigers, and lions, even evil beasts, be loosed upon them, to devour their flesh with their bones.

²³And he commanded the keepers of the beasts to release them upon the men; and they did as they were commanded. The feet of the honoured martyrs were bound, and they were smitten and bound again with tent-stakes.

²⁴And the beasts were cast upon them whilst they roared; but when they drew nigh unto the martyrs, they bowed down and did obeisance unto them.

²⁵They returned toward their keepers whilst they roared, and they put their keepers to fear. Then they were brought unto the court and set before the king.

²⁶And threescore and fifteen men of the army of the wicked one were slain there.

²⁷A multitude of persons were stricken with dismay, some in anguish and others in fear, until the king forsook his throne and fled. The beasts were taken with much difficulty and brought unto their lodgings.

²⁸Seela, Abya, and Fentos, the two brethren, came and loosed the prisoners from their bonds. They spake unto them, saying, "Come, let us flee, lest these unbelievers and transgressors find us."

²⁹And those martyrs answered their brethren, saying, "It is not meet that we should flee after we have set up this testimony, as though ye had feared. Go ye, and flee."

³⁰And those younger brethren said, "We shall stand with you before the king; and if ye die, we shall die with you."

³¹And after this, the king was upon the balcony of his dominion and beheld that these honoured men were loosed, and that all the five brethren stood together. Those captains who did govern and chasten the troops enquired whether they were brethren, and told the king. And the king was wroth, and roared as a wild boar in the wilderness.

³²And when the king was counselled by his treasurer to punish all the five brethren, he commanded that they be seized and added unto the prison house. They set them in a prison house, binding them in sore imprisonment without mercy, with a hollow stalk.

³³And King Tseerutsaydan said, "These youths that have erred have wearied me. Wherefore should these men reason so steadfastly? And those who work evil are as those who have might and strength. If I say they shall return, they will harden their understanding in wickedness.

³⁴And I shall bring hardship upon them according to their evil measure. And I shall burn their flesh in fire until it be turned to ash, and then I shall scatter the ash of their flesh as dust upon the mountains."

³⁵And after he had spoken thus, he tarried three days and commanded that those honoured men be brought forth. At the time when those honoured men drew nigh unto him, he commanded that a fire be kindled within the great pit of the furnace, and that wicked substances be cast into the flame of the fire, wherein they boiled a cat, with fat and soapberries, and sea-foam and resin, and brimstone.

³⁶And at the time the fire blazed in the pit, the messengers went unto the king and said, "We have done as thou didst command us. Send forth the men who shall be cast in."

³⁷And he commanded that they be taken and cast into the pit of fire; and the servants did as the king commanded them. At the time when those honoured men entered into the fire, they gave their souls unto JAH.

³⁸And when the men who cast them in did behold, lo, angels received and bore their souls unto the Garden where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob abide, where the righteous are found.