1 Maccabees 2:29-48

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁹ At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, ³⁰ they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon them.^{(A) 31} And it was reported to the king’s officers and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David that those who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness.^{(B) 32} Many pursued them and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the Sabbath day. ³³ They said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.” ³⁴ But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the Sabbath day.”^{(C) 35} Then the enemy^[a] quickly attacked them. ³⁶ But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, ³⁷ for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” ³⁸ So they attacked them on the Sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and livestock, to the number of a thousand persons.^(D)

³⁹ When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply. ⁴⁰ And all said to their neighbors: “If we all do as our kindred have done and refuse to fight with the nations 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.”^(E)

Counter-Attack

⁴² Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, all who offered themselves willingly for the law.^{(F) 43} And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them. ⁴⁴ They organized an army and struck down sinners in their anger and renegades in their wrath; the survivors fled to the nations for safety.^{(G) 45} And Mattathias and his friends went around and tore down the altars; ⁴⁶ they forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys whom they found within the borders of Israel. ⁴⁷ They hunted down the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands. ⁴⁸ They rescued the law out of the hands of the nations and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.