18
Then the soldiers took the sixth boy, and just before he died he said, "Make no mistake. We are suffering what we deserve, because we have sinned against our God. That's why all these terrible things are happening to us.
19
But don't think for a minute that you will avoid being punished for fighting against God."
20
The mother was the most amazing one of them all, and she deserves a special place in our memory. Although she saw her seven sons die in a single day, she endured it with great courage because she trusted in the Lord.
21
She combined womanly emotion with manly courage and spoke words of encouragement to each of her sons in their native language.
22
"I do not know how your life began in my womb," she would say, "I was not the one who gave you life and breath and put together each part of your body.
23
It was God who did it, God who created the universe, the human race, and all that exists. He is merciful and he will give you back life and breath again, because you love his laws more than you love yourself."
24
Antiochus was sure that the mother was making fun of him, so he did his best to convince her youngest son to abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He promised not only to make the boy rich and famous, but to place him in a position of authority and to give him the title "Friend of the King."
25
But the boy paid no attention to him, so Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life,
26
and after much persuasion she agreed to do so.
27
Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language, "My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day.
28
So I urge you, my child, to look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race.