4 Maccabees 17:1-5

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

17 Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body.^(A)

² O mother, who with your seven sons nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the nobility of your faith! ³ Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. ⁴ Take courage, therefore, O holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. ⁵ The moon in heaven with the stars is not so majestic as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them.