Fighting on the Sabbath

²⁹At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, ³⁰they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon them. ³¹And it was reported to the king’s officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that those who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness. ³²Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day. ³³They said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.” ³⁴But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day.” ³⁵Then the enemy quickly attacked them. ³⁶But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, ³⁷for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” ³⁸So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and livestock, to the number of a thousand persons.

³⁹When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply. ⁴⁰And all said to their neighbors: “If we all do as our kindred have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth.” ⁴¹So they made this decision that day: “Let us fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our kindred died in their hiding places.”