1 Maccabees 2:19-21

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁹ But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: “Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him and have chosen to obey his commandments, every one of them abandoning the religion of their ancestors,^{(A) 20} I and my sons and my brothers will continue to live by the covenant of our ancestors.^{(B) 21} Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.