“I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.” 2 Maccabees 7: 22

Fritz paraphrases 2 Maccabees 7:1-41

Once there was a widow with seven sons. The king said that everyone who was Jewish had to die. They brought the widow and her seven sons to the king. The king said to the first one, “Will you eat this meat?” The first one said, “No.” They tortured and killed him. Next, the second brother said, “No.” They tortured and killed him, too. The same thing happened to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth brothers. Finally, they went to the seventh brother. The king asked, “Will you eat this meat?” The mother spoke to her son and said, “Do just like your brothers.” The youngest brother told the king, “You are not nice for killing my brothers.” He still would not eat the meat. They tortured and killed him. Then they killed the widow.

Maccabees doesn’t gloss over the torture part of the story. “Not nice” is putting it mildly.