2 Maccabees 7:27-29

New Catholic Bible

²⁷ However, she flouted the king’s wishes by saying to her son in their native language as she leaned close to him: “My son, have pity on me. I carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, reared you, and provided for your needs up to this point in your life. ²⁸ I beg you, my child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see everything that is in them. Reflect on the fact that God did not create them from things that already existed^[a] and that the human race came into being in the same way. ²⁹ Have no fear of this butcher. Prove yourself worthy of your brothers by accepting death, so that through the mercy of God I shall receive you back again along with them.”