7
When Judas saw that members of his army had slipped away and the battle was coming close, he was dejected because he had no time to assemble more troops.
5
Now Judas was camped at Elasa with three thousand handpicked soldiers.
6
When they saw the huge number of enemy forces, they became afraid. Many of them slipped away from the camp, until no more than eight hundred of them remained.
7
When Judas saw that members of his army had slipped away and the battle was coming close, he was dejected because he had no time to assemble more troops.
8
He felt weak, but he said to those who stayed, "Let's get up and move against our enemies. We may be able to fight them."
9
They tried to change his mind: "We don't have the strength. Let's save ourselves now and come back later with our people to fight them. We are too few."