So the king called the Jews to his aid means more than simply asking the Jews to help. Demetrius pleaded with them. So we may say “Then the king pleaded with the Jewish soldiers to help him.”

And they all rallied about him: The Jewish soldiers had evidently come into the city without opposition (verse 44), so that they were on hand when the riot developed. They all rallied about him means they encircled the palace to protect the king. We may provide readers with this information by saying “they placed themselves around the palace to protect the king.”

And then spread out through the city: They then moved out from there into the city.

And they killed on that day as many as a hundred thousand men: Good News Bible joins this clause to the previous one, which works well, saying “They went through the whole city and killed at least 100,000 people.” “People” is better than men; the Greek does not specify that only soldiers were killed.

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.