Quotes from 1 Maccabees
9 notable lines from Unknown · c. 100 BCE
Moreover Judas and his brethren with the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and gladness.
Quotations follow the King James Version translation (Oxford University Press, 1611) — our recommended edition.
For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven.
Judas Maccabeus, before battle · 3:19 (KJV Apocrypha) Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me.
Mattathias, raising the revolt · 2:27 (KJV Apocrypha) Fear not then the words of a sinful man: for his glory shall be dung and worms. To day he shall be lifted up and to morrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his dust, and his thought is come to nothing.
Mattathias's deathbed exhortation · 2:62-63 (KJV Apocrypha) If our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our honour.
Judas Maccabeus, refusing to flee · 9:10 (KJV Apocrypha) For it is better for us to die in battle, than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary.
Judas Maccabeus, rallying his men · 3:59 (KJV Apocrypha) Yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances.
Mattathias refusing to sacrifice to idols · 2:20-21 (KJV Apocrypha) Wherefore, ye my sons, be valiant and shew yourselves men in the behalf of the law; for by it shall ye obtain glory.
Mattathias's dying charge to his sons · 2:64 (KJV Apocrypha) Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honour into contempt.
Lament over the desecrated Jerusalem · 1:39 (KJV Apocrypha)