2 Maccabees 15:17-19

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁷ Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking manliness in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter, by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger. ¹⁸ Their concern for wives and children, and also for brethren and relatives, lay upon them less heavily; their greatest and first fear was for the consecrated sanctuary. ¹⁹ And those who had to remain in the city were in no little distress, being anxious over the encounter in the open country.