1 Maccabees 2:40

40 And one of them said to another, "If we all do as our brethren have done, and fight not for our lives and laws against the heathen, they will now quickly root us out of the earth."

1 Maccabees 2:40 In-Context

38 So they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they slew them, with their wives and children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people.

39 Now when Mattathias and his friends learned of this, they mourned for them sorely.

40 And one of them said to another, "If we all do as our brethren have done, and fight not for our lives and laws against the heathen, they will now quickly root us out of the earth."

41 At that time therefore they decreed, saying, "Whosoever shall come to do battle with us on the Sabbath day, we will fight against him; neither will we all die, as our brethren who were murdered in the secret places."

42 Then came there unto him a company of Hasideans who were mighty men of Israel, even all such as were voluntarily devoted unto the law.