5 Eleazar (also called Avaran), and Jonathan (also called Apphus).
6 When Mattathias saw all the sins that were being committed in Judea and Jerusalem,
7 he said:“Why was I born to see these terrible things,the ruin of my people and of the holy city?Must I sit here helplesswhile the city is surrendered to enemiesand the Temple falls into the hands of foreigners?
8 The Temple is like someone without honour.
9 Its splendid furnishingshave been carried away as loot.Our children have been killed in the streets,and our young men by the sword of the enemy.
10 Every nation in the world has occupied the cityand robbed her of her possessions.
11 All her ornaments have been stripped away;she is now a slave, no longer free.