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Mattathias had five sons: John (also called Gaddi),
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Simon (also called Thassi),
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Judas (also called Maccabeus),
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Eleazar (also called Avaran), and Jonathan (also called Apphus).
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When Mattathias saw all the sins that were being committed in Judea and Jerusalem,
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he said: "Why was I born to see these terrible things, the ruin of my people and of the holy city? Must I sit here helpless while the city is surrendered to enemies and the Temple falls into the hands of foreigners?
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The Temple is like someone without honor.
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Its splendid furnishings have been carried away as loot. Our children have been killed in the streets, and our young men by the sword of the enemy.
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Every nation in the world has occupied the city and robbed her of her possessions.
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All her ornaments have been stripped away; she is now a slave, no longer free.
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Look at our Temple, profaned by the Gentiles, emptied of all its splendor.