37
They said, "Let's all die in our innocence. Heaven and earth testify on our behalf that you are killing us unjustly."
38
So the troops attacked them on the Sabbath. They died, with their wives and children and livestock, as many as one thousand people.
39
When Mattathias and his friends learned about this, they deeply mourned for the dead.
40
They said to each other: "If we all do as our people have done and refuse to fight against the Gentiles for our lives and our commandments, they will soon eliminate us from the earth."
41
So they decided that day: "We will fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the Sabbath. Let's not all die as our people did in their hiding places."