4 Maccabees 17:7-9

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The Effect of the Martyrdoms

⁷ If it were possible for us to paint the history of your piety as an artist might, would not those who beheld it shudder as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of piety? ⁸ Indeed, it would be proper to inscribe on their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation:^[a]

⁹ “Here lie buried an aged priest and an aged woman and seven children because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews.