Which book includes the story of the martyrdom of the woman with seven sons?

The book that includes the story of the martyrdom of the woman with seven sons is 2 Maccabees.

The episode appears in 2 Maccabees 7, during the persecution associated with Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The unnamed mother and her seven sons are arrested and ordered to eat pork, violating Jewish dietary law. Each son refuses, is tortured and killed, and encourages faithfulness before his death. The mother also dies after witnessing the executions.

The story is important because it emphasizes fidelity to Jewish law, courage under persecution, and belief in resurrection. It occurs shortly before the book’s account of Judas Maccabeus’s military resistance. Later Jewish and Christian traditions expanded the episode and gave the mother different names, including Hannah, Miriam, and Shmouni.

The account is sometimes confused with 4 Maccabees, which retells and philosophically develops the same martyr tradition. But 2 Maccabees is the book containing the foundational narrative. The woman and her sons are also sometimes called the Holy Maccabean Martyrs, although they are distinct from the Hasmonean leaders called the Maccabees.