36. Still they didn’t answer or throw a rock at them or even block up their hiding places.
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."
42. At that time a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, united with them. They offered their lives willingly for the Law.
43. Others who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them as well and reinforced them.
44. Together they organized an army. In their fury, they struck down sinners and renegades. Survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.
45. Mattathias and his friends went around tearing down the altars to other gods.
46. They forcibly circumcised boys whom they found uncircumcised within the borders of Israel.