31
Now when it was told the king's servants, and the host that was at Jerusalem in the City of David, that certain men who had broken the king's commandment had gone down into the secret places in the wilderness,
32
a great number pursued after them and, having overtaken them, they encamped against them and made war against them on the Sabbath day.
33
And they said unto them, "Let that which ye have done hitherto suffice. Come forth and do according to the commandment of the king, and ye shall live."
34
But they said, "We will not come forth, neither will we do the king's commandment to profane the Sabbath day."
35
So then they engaged them in battle with all speed.
36
However they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them nor shut up the places where they lay hidden,
37
but said, "Let us all die in our innocency. Heaven and earth shall testify for us that you put us to death wrongfully."
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."