1 Maccabees 16:2-4

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

² And Simon called in his two eldest sons Judas and John and said to them: “My brothers and I and my father’s house have fought the wars of Israel from our youth until this day, and things have prospered in our hands so that we have delivered Israel many times.^{(A) 3} But now I have grown old, and you by heaven’s^[a] mercy are mature in years. Take my place and my brother’s, and go out and fight for our nation, and may the help that comes from heaven be with you.”^(B)

⁴ So John^[b] chose out of the country twenty thousand warriors and cavalry, and they marched against Cendebeus and camped for the night in Modein.^(C)