2 Maccabees 14:6-8

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁶ “Those of the Jews who are called Hasideans, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are keeping up war and stirring up sedition and will not let the kingdom attain tranquility.^{(A) 7} Therefore I have laid aside my ancestral glory—I mean the high priesthood—and have now come here,^{(B) 8} first because I am genuinely concerned for the interests of the king, and second because I have regard also for my compatriots. For through the folly of those whom I have mentioned our whole nation is now in no small misfortune.