1 Maccabees 2:29-31

New Catholic Bible

²⁹ Many of the people who desired to live in accordance with justice and the law went down to the desert^[a] and settled there, ³⁰ taking with them their sons, their wives, and their livestock, so oppressive were the sufferings that they had been forced to endure.

³¹ Shortly thereafter it was reported to the officers of the king and the forces stationed in Jerusalem, the City of David, that those who had refused to obey the king’s edict had retreated to hiding places in the desert.