So they gathered together to build up the city: The pronoun they refers to the people of the city. For this sentence Good News Bible has “The people worked together to strengthen the city’s defenses,” which shifts the focus a bit, but does so to good effect. It describes the citizens agreeing and working toward a common goal, which is what the text says they did. However, we would not combine this sentence with the next one, as Good News Bible does. Good News Bible seems to say that two sections of the city wall had fallen, and that is what the people fixed. More than that is intended; the two sections described in the next sentence are only examples.

Part of the wall on the valley to the east had fallen: The valley to the east is the Kidron Valley, which Good News Bible names by saying “a part of the east wall along the Kidron valley had collapsed.” Translators may name it if they wish, but it adds nothing but another name, which will be helpful only to people with some knowledge of the geography of the city.

And he repaired the section called Chaphenatha: The pronoun he is better rendered “Jonathan and his men,” since he did not repair the wall by himself. Good News Bible is mistaken to render this clause as “and the Chaphenatha section was in need of repair”; the text says Jonathan repaired it. But there is another way to read this clause in connection with the previous; for example, An American Translation translates “and part of the east wall by the ravine collapsed, and he replaced it with the so-called Chaphenatha.” Goldstein is similar with “Part of the wall of the eastern valley collapsed, so he replaced it by the structure called Chaphenatha.” No one knows what Chaphenatha means or what it refers to; there is only speculation. Without knowing what it is, it is hard to be confident about how to translate the last clause. Translators may go in either of the following two directions to render the last sentence of this verse:

• Part of the wall above the Kidron valley on the east had fallen, and Jonathan and his men repaired the section called Chaphenatha.

• Part of the wall above the Kidron valley on the east had fallen, and Jonathan and his men replaced it with the structure called Chaphenatha.

We prefer the latter model for no better reason than that it makes better sense.

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.