1 Maccabees 16:3-5

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

³ But now I have grown old, and you by Heaven’s^[a] mercy are mature in years. Take my place and my brother’s, and go out and fight for our nation, and may the help that comes from Heaven be with you.”

⁴ So John^[b] chose out of the country twenty thousand warriors and cavalry, and they marched against Cendebeus and camped for the night in Modein. ⁵ Early in the morning they started out and marched into the plain, where a large force of infantry and cavalry was coming to meet them; and a stream lay between them.