4 Maccabees 15:1-3

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

15 O reason of the children, tyrant over the passions! O piety, more desirable to the mother than her children! ² Two courses were open to this mother, that of piety and that of preserving her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised. ³ She loved piety more, the piety that preserves them for eternal life according to God’s promise.^[a]