II Maccabees chapter 7

7: 1 - 42 (translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
It happened that seven brothers were also arrested with their mother, and were tortured with whips and thongs by the king, to force them to taste of the unlawful swine's meat.  One of them made himself their advocate and said, "What do you expect to ask and learn from us?  For we are ready to die, rather than transgress the laws of our forefathers."
The king was infuriated and gave orders that pans and caldrons should be heated.  And when they were immediately heated, he commanded that the tongue of the one who had been their advocate should be cut out, and that they should scalp him and cut off his extremities, while his brothers and mother looked on.  And when he was utterly crippled, the king ordered them to bring him to the fire and fry him.  And as the vapor from the pan spread thickly, they with their mother encouraged on another to die nobly, saying, "The Lord God is looking on, and he truly relents toward us, as Moses declared in his Song, which bore witness against them face to face, when he said, 'And He will relent toward His slaves.'" [Deuteronomy 32:36]
When the first one had departed in this manner, they brought the second one to be mocked, and they tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, "Will you eat, or have your body punished limb by limb?"
But he replied in the language of his forefathers and answered, "No."
So he also underwent the same series of tortures as the first suffered.  But when he was at his last gasp, he said, "You wretch, you release us from this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up, because we have died for His laws, to an everlasting renewal of life."
After him, the third was mocked, and when he was told to put out his tongue, he did so quickly, and courageously stretched out his hands, and said nobly, "I got these from Heaven [i.e. God] and for the sake of its laws I disregard them, and from it I hope to receive them back again," so that the king himself and those who were with him were amazed at the young man's spirit, because he made light of his sufferings.
And when he had departed, they tortured and maltreated the fourth in the same way.  And when he was near his end, he spoke thus: "It is better to die by men's hands and look for the hopes God gives of being raised again by him; for you will have no resurrection to life."  Next they brought up the fifth and maltreated him. But he looked at the king and said, "Since you have authority among men, though you are mortal, you do what you please; but do not suppose that our race has been abandoned by God.  But follow your course and see how His mighty power will torment you and your posterity."
After him they brought the sixth.  And when he was at the point of death, he said, "Do not be falsely deceived; for we suffer these things because of ourselves, for we sin against our own God, so these amazing things have happened.  But you must not suppose that you will go unpunished for having attempted to fight against God."
But their mother was surpassingly wonderful, and deserves a blessed memory, for though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage, because of her hope in the Lord.  And she encouraged each of them in the language of their forefathers, for she was filled with a noble spirit and stirred her woman's heart with manly courage, and said to them, "I do not know how you appeared in my womb, for it was not I that gave you life and breath, and it was not I that brought into harmony the elements of each.  Therefore the Creator of the world, who formed the human race and arranged the generation of all things, will give you back again life and breath in His mercy, as you now are regardless of yourselves for the sake of His laws."
Now Antiochus, thinking that he was being treated with contempt, and suspecting her reproachful cry, as the youngest still survived, not only appealed to him in words but also promised him with oaths that he would make him rich and envied, if he would give up the ways of his forefathers, and would make him his Friend and intrust him with office.  But when the young man paid no attention to him, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the boy to save himself.  After he had labored with her a long time, she undertook to persuade her son.  She bent over him, and mocking the cruel tyrant, she spoke thus, in the language of her forefathers: "My son, have pity on me, who carried you nine months in the womb, and nursed you for three years, and brought you up and brought you to your present age, and supported you.  I beseech you, my child, to look up at the heaven and the earth, and see all that is in them, and perceive that God did not make them out of the things that existed, and in that way the human race came into existence.  Do not be afraid of this butcher, but show yourself worthy of your brothers, and accept death, so that by God's mercy, I may get you back again with your brothers."
Before she could finish, the young man said, "What are you waiting for?  I will not obey the command of the king, but I obey the command of the Law that was given to our forefathers through Moses.  But you, who have designed every kind of evil against the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God.  For we are suffering because of our own sins.  And though the Living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, He will be reconciled with His own slaves again.  But you, impious man, the vilest of all men, do not foolishly buoy yourself up in your insolence with uncertain hopes, when you raise up in your insolence with uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of Heaven; for you have not yet escaped the judgment of the Almight all-seeing God.  For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk everlasting life, under the agreement of god.  But you, by the judgment of God, will receive the rightful penalty of your arrogance.  I, like my brothers, give up body and soul for the laws of my forefathers, calling upon God speedily to show mercy to our nation, and to lead you to confess, in trials and plagues, that He alone is God; and to stay through me and my brothers the wrath of the Almighty, which has justly fallen on our whole nation." 
But the king was infuriated and treated him worse than the others, being embittered at his mockery.  So he passed away unpolluted, trusting firmly in the Lord.  Last of all, the mother met her end, after her sons.
So much then for the eating of sacrifices and excessive barbarities.