And instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that I should receive, I release them from this day and henceforth: And and from this day and henceforth may be combined to begin the verse by saying “Furthermore, from this day” (Good News Bible) or “And from now on” (Contemporary English Version). Instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees may be rendered simply “the share of your grain and fruit that you have to pay me.” The pronoun them does not appear in the text, but the insertion makes the pronoun appear to refer back to the grain and fruit, which is not intended. It is the Jews who are being released from the duty of providing it. We recommend that translators insert the plural pronoun “you” instead of them to make this clear, as in Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version, which renders I release them as “you no longer have to give me.” An alternative model for this whole sentence is “And from this day on, you no longer have to give [or, pay] me a third of your grain or half of your fruit [or, the share of your grain and fruit that I have demanded].”

I will not collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time: The three districts (nomos in Greek, which refers here to a political unit rather than a law) are mentioned again in verse 38 and 1Macc 11.28, 34. All three districts were actually on the border between Judea and Samaria, not in Galilee, but there is no textual authority for omitting Galilee. Abel suggests that “Samaria-Galilee” constituted one administrative district (so New Jerusalem Bible). However, in verse 38 and 11.28, 34 only Samaria is mentioned. The main translational question here revolves around the Greek word rendered added. If the Greek is read literally, it does not say that the three districts were at some time added to Judea; it says that they are being added in the present, that is, with these words. New English Bible correctly translates “… the three administrative districts … which I now attach to Judaea.” At verse 38 the attachment of these territories is referred to as a past event, something already done. Goldstein points out that since we are working with a Greek translation of a Hebrew translation of Demetrius’ actual letter, the tenses of the participles used in verses 30 and 38 cannot be taken too seriously. However, it is our judgment that at least the Greek translator understood the attachment of the territories to be effective with these words, and that while following Good News Bible would not be seriously misleading, it would be better to translate the last half of this verse as follows: “I will never again require these payments from the province of Judea, nor from the three administrative districts that I am now [or, hereby] adding to Judea’s territory from Samaria and Galilee.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.