4 Maccabees 16:8

8 In vain, my sons, I endured many birth-pangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing.

4 Maccabees 16:8 In-Context

6 "O how wretched am I and many times unhappy! After bearing seven children, I am now the mother of none!
7 O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings!
8 In vain, my sons, I endured many birth-pangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing.
9 Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring. I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother.
10 Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.