34. “We will not come out,” they answered. “We will not obey the king's command, and we will not profane the Sabbath.”
35. The soldiers attacked them immediately,
36. but the Jews did nothing to resist; they did not even throw stones or block the entrances to the caves where they were hiding.
37. They said, “We will all die with a clear conscience. Let heaven and earth bear witness that you are slaughtering us unjustly.”
38. So the enemy attacked them on the Sabbath and killed the men, their wives, their children, and their livestock. A thousand people died.
39. When Mattathias and his friends heard about this, they were greatly saddened
40. and said to one another, “If all of us do as these other Jews have done and refuse to fight the Gentiles to defend our lives and our religion, we will soon be wiped off the face of the earth.”
41. On that day they decided that if anyone attacked them on the Sabbath, they would defend themselves, so that they would not all die as other Jews had died in the caves.
42. Then Mattathias and his friends were joined by a group of devout and patriotic Jews, the strongest and bravest men in Israel, who had all volunteered to defend the Law.
43. In addition, everyone who was fleeing from the persecution joined them and strengthened their forces.
44. Now that they had an army, they gave vent to their anger by attacking the renegade Jews. Those who escaped were forced to flee to the Gentiles for safety.
45. Mattathias and his friends went everywhere tearing down pagan altars
46. and circumcising by force every uncircumcised boy they found within the borders of Israel.