2:28. So he and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that they had in the city. 2:29. Then many that sought after judgment, and justice, went down into the desert, 2:30. And they abode there, they and their children, and their wives, and their cattle: because afflictions increased upon them. 2:31. And it was told to the king's men, and to the army that was in Jerusalem, in the city of David, that certain men, who had broken the king's commandment, were gone away into the secret places in the wilderness, and that many were gone after them. 2:32. And forthwith they went out towards them, and made war against them on the sabbath day. 2:33. And they said to them: Do you still resist? come forth, and do according to the edict of king Antiochus, and you shall live. 2:34. And they said: We will not come forth, neither will we obey the king's edict, to profane the sabbath day. 2:35. And they made haste to give them battle. 2:36. But they answered them not, neither did they cast a stone at them, nor stopped up the secret places, 2:37. Saying: Let us all die in our innocency: and heaven and earth shall be witnesses for us, that you put us to death wrongfully. 2:38. So they gave them battle on the sabbath: and they were slain, with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand persons. 2:39. And Mathathias and his friends heard of it, and they mourned for them exceedingly. 2:40. And every man said to his neighbour: If we shall all do as our brethren have done, and not fight against the heathens for our lives, and our justifications, they will now quickly root us out of the earth. 2:41. And they determined in that day, saying: Whosoever shall come up against us to fight on the sabbath day, we will fight against him: and we will not all die, as our brethren that were slain in the secret places. 2:42. Then was assembled to them the congregation of the Assideans, the stoutest of Israel, every one that had a good will for the law. The Assideans... A set of men that led a religious life; and were zealous for the law and worship of God. 2:43. And all they that fled from the evils, joined themselves to them, and were a support to them. 2:44. And they gathered an army, and slew the sinners in their wrath, and the wicked men in their indignation: and the rest fled to the nations for safety. 2:45. And Mathathias and his friends went round about, and they threw down the altars: 2:46. And they circumcised all the children whom they found in the confines of Israel that were uncircumcised: and they did valiantly. 2:47. And they pursued after the children of pride, and the work prospered in their hands: 2:48. And they recovered the law out of the hands of the nations, and out of the hands of the kings: and they yielded not the horn to the sinner. They yielded not the horn, etc... That is, they suffered not the power of Antiochus, that man of sin, to abolish the law and religion of God.