1 Maccabees 2:40-42
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
40 And all said to their neighbours: ‘If we all do as our kindred have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth.’ 41 So they made this decision that day: ‘Let us fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our kindred died in their hiding-places.’
Counter-Attack
42 Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, all who offered themselves willingly for the law.
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.