38. So they carried out a battle on the Sabbath. And they were put to death, with their wives, and their sons, and their cattle, even to the number of a thousand souls of men.
39. And Mattathias and his friends heard of it, and they held a very great lamentation for them.
40. And every man said to his neighbor, "If we all do just as our brothers have done, and if we do not fight against the Gentiles for the sake of our lives and our justifications, then they will quickly eradicate us from the earth."
41. And they decided, on that day, saying: "Every man, who will come against us in warfare on the day of the Sabbath, we will fight against him. And we will not all die, like our brothers who were put to death in the hidden places."
42. Then there was assembled before them the synagogue of the Hasideans, strong men from Israel, each one with a will for the law.
43. And all those who fled from the evils added themselves to them, and they became a firmament to them.
44. And they gathered together an army, and they struck down the sinners in their wrath and the wicked men in their indignation. And the others fled to the nations, so as to escape.
45. And Mattathias and his friends traveled around, and they destroyed the altars.
46. And they circumcised all the uncircumcised boys, whom they found within the limits of Israel, and they acted with fortitude.
47. And they pursued the sons of arrogance, and the work was prosperous in their hands.
48. And they obtained the law from the hands of the Gentiles, and from the hands of the kings. And they did not surrender the horn to the sinner.
49. Then the days drew near when Mattathias would die, and he said to his sons: "Now arrogance and chastisement have been strengthened, and it is a time of overturning and of the wrath of indignation.
50. Now therefore, O sons, be imitators of the law, and give your lives for the sake of the covenant of your fathers.