Psalm 17:1-15 and 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31

Psalm 17:1-15
1 A Prayer of David. Lord, listen to my justice, attend to my supplication. Pay attention to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.
2 Let my judgment proceed from your presence. Let your eyes behold fairness.
3 You have tested my heart and visited it by night. You have examined me by fire, and iniquity has not been found in me.
4 Therefore, may my mouth not speak the works of men. I have kept to difficult ways because of the words of your lips.
5 Perfect my steps in your paths, so that my footsteps may not be disturbed.
6 I have cried out because you, O God, have listened to me. Incline your ear to me and heed my words.
7 Make your mercies wonderful, for you save those who hope in you.
8 From those who resist your right hand, preserve me like the pupil of your eye. Protect me under the shadow of your wings,
9 from the face of the impious who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul.
10 They have concealed their fatness; their mouth has been speaking arrogantly.
11 They have cast me out, and now they have surrounded me. They have cast their eyes down to the earth.
12 They have taken me, like a lion ready for the prey, and like a young lion dwelling in hiding.
13 Rise up, O Lord, arrive before him and displace him. Deliver my soul from the impious one: your spear from the enemies of your hand.
14 Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life. Their gut has been filled from your hidden stores. They have been filled with sons, and they have bequeathed to their little ones the remainder.
15 But as for me, I will appear before your sight in justice. I will be satisfied when your glory appears.
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31
1 And it happened also that seven brothers, united with their mother, were apprehended and compelled by the king to eat the flesh of swine against divine law, being tormented with scourges and whips.
20 Now the mother was wonderful beyond measure, and a worthy memorial of the good, for she watched her seven sons perish within the time of one day, and she bore it with a good soul, because of the hope that she had in God.
21 And, with fortitude, she exhorted every one of them, in the language of the fathers, being filled with wisdom. And, joining masculine courage with feminine thinking,
22 she said to them: "I do not know how you were formed in my womb. For I did not give you spirit, nor soul, nor life; neither did I construct each of your limbs.
23 Nevertheless, the Creator of the world, who formed the nativity of man, and who founded the origins of all, will restore both spirit and life to you again, with his mercy, just as you now despise yourselves for the sake of his laws."
24 But Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and at the same time also despising the voice of the reproacher, when only the youngest was still left, not only exhorted him with words, but also assured him with an oath, that he would make him wealthy and happy, and, if he would convert from the laws of his fathers, he would have him as a friend, and he would provide him with necessary things.
25 But, when the youth was not swayed by these things, the king called the mother and persuaded her to act toward the youth to save him.
26 And so, when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised that she would counsel her son.
27 Then, leaning towards him and mocking the cruel tyrant, she said in the language of the fathers: "My son, take pity on me, for I carried you for nine months in my womb, and I gave you milk for three years, and I nourished you and led you through to this stage of life.
28 I ask you, child, gaze upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and understand that God made them, and the family of man, out of nothing.
29 So shall it be that you will not fear this executioner, but, participating worthily with your brothers, you shall accept death, so that, by this mercy, I shall receive you again with your brothers."
30 While she was still saying these things, the youth said: "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the precepts of the king, but the precepts of the law, which was given to us through Moses.
31 In truth, you, who have been the inventor of all malice against the Hebrews, will not escape the hand of God.