A Mother and Her Sons Are Martyred
2 Maccabees 7, verse 1. It came about also that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and forced by the king to be bound and tortured with whips and cords until they partook of the unlawful swine's flesh. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 2. One of them, acting as spokesman, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 3. The king became enraged, and commanded that pans and caldrons be heated. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 4. These were heated immediately; and he commanded them to cut out the spokesman's tongue, and to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother watched. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 5. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, while he was still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. As the smoke from the pan spread out broadly, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying, 2 Maccabees 7, verse 6. “The Lord God is taking notice of us and in truth is encouraging us, as Moses proclaimed in his song which he sang, bearing witness against the people to their faces: ‘And God will have compassion on His servants.’” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 7. After the first brother died in this manner, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore away the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat pork rather than have your body punished limb by limb?” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 8. But he replied in the language of his fathers and said to them, “No.” Therefore this brother in turn underwent the same torture as the first. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 9. So when he was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch! You set us free from this present life, but the King of the world will raise us to an everlasting renewal of life, because we die for His laws.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 10. After him, the third fell prey to their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, 2 Maccabees 7, verse 11. and said bravely, “I received these from heaven, and because of His laws I disregard them, and from Him I hope to get them back again.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 12. As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 13. When he died, they tortured and tormented the fourth in the same way. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 14. So when he was near death, he said, “One may be chosen to die at the hands of men and to look for the hope that God gives of being raised again by Him. But for you there shall be no resurrection to life.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 15. Next they led forward the fifth and tormented him. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 16. But he looked at the king and said, “Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please; but do not think that God has forsaken our people. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 17. Continue, and behold how His mighty power will torture you and your seed!” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 18. After him they led forward the sixth. When he was about to die, he said, “Do not deceive yourself, for we are suffering these things on our own account because of our sins against our own God. Therefore things worthy of wonder have happened. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 19. But do not think that you shall be innocent for trying to fight against God!” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 20. The mother was especially admirable and worthy of good memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish in the span of a single day, she bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 21. She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she stirred her womanly reasoning with manly courage, saying to them, 2 Maccabees 7, verse 22. “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you breath and life, nor I who arranged in order the elements within each of you. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 23. Therefore the Creator of the world, who formed man in the beginning and devised the origin of all things, will give both breath and life back to you again in His mercy, since you now disregard yourselves for the sake of His laws.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 24. Antiochus supposed that he was being treated with contempt, and suspected her speech was insulting him personally. Thus, since the youngest brother was still alive, not only did he appeal to him in words, but at the same time guaranteed him with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn away from his fathers, and that he would consider him a friend and entrust him with public affairs. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 25. But when the young man refused to pay any attention to him, the king called his mother to him and urged her to advise the boy to save himself. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 26. After much urging from him, she agreed to persuade her son. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 27. But she leaned close to him and mocked the cruel tyrant, speaking in their native tongue, saying, “My son, have mercy on me. I carried you for nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years. I reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 28. I beseech you, my child, to look at heaven and earth and see everything in them, and know that God made them out of nothing; so also He made the race of man in this way. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 29. Do not fear this executioner! But be worthy of your brothers and accept death, that in God's mercy I may receive you back again with your brothers.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 30. While she continued speaking, the young man said to the king, “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command, but I obey the command of the law, given to our fathers through Moses. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 31. But you, who have invented all manner of evil against the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God, 2 Maccabees 7, verse 32. for we are suffering because of our own sins. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 33. So if for the sake of reproof and discipline, our living Lord is angry for a little while, He will again be reconciled with His own servants. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 34. But you, O unholy man and most defiled of all men, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 35. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 36. For now our brothers have endured a brief suffering and then passed on into everlasting life under God's covenant. But you, by God's judgment, will receive just punishments for your haughtiness. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 37. Like my brothers, I give up body and soul for the laws of our fathers, crying out to God, that He may soon show His mercy to our nation, and by afflictions and calamities make you confess that He alone is God, 2 Maccabees 7, verse 38. and through my brothers and me bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly come upon our entire nation.” 2 Maccabees 7, verse 39. Then the king became bitterly enraged at his contempt and treated him worse than the others. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 40. So, putting his trust completely in the Lord, he died in his innocence. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 41. Last of all, the mother died, after her sons. 2 Maccabees 7, verse 42. Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.