They set fire to the city and seized much spoil on that day, and they saved the king: Good News Bible overtranslates by saying “burned the city.” That sounds like the Jewish soldiers completely destroyed the city. They did not, although they burned a good bit of it. Set fire to the city is sufficient. Seized much spoil refers to looting. Good News Bible has simply “plundered.” We may also say “took all the valuable possessions of the citizens.” The looting and the setting of fires probably took place at the same time. It is not necessary to reverse these two actions as is done in Good News Bible, although it does no harm. Good News Bible does well to move they saved the king to the beginning of the verse, and translate “They saved the king’s life.” However, translators should consider joining this clause to the previous verse rather than to the rest of this verse as follows:

• 47 … and killed at least 100,000 [or, one hundred thousand] people, 48 but they saved the king’s life. They also set fire to the city and took a lot of loot [or, took everything of value].

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.