Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased may be rendered “Judas and his brothers saw that their situation was getting more and more difficult” (Good News Bible), “… realized that things were worse now than ever” (Contemporary English Version), “… saw how very dangerous the situation was” (Goldstein), “… saw that the situation was going from bad to worse” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “… saw that the situation had become critical” (New American Bible). Any of these renderings are good, but we offer yet another model below.

And that the forces were encamped in their territory may be expressed as “with foreign armies camped within their own borders” (Good News Bible) or “and that enemy soldiers had invaded Judea.”

They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction: To cause their final destruction may be expressed as “to destroy the people completely” or “to wipe out the Jewish people” (Contemporary English Version).

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Judas and his brothers now knew that they were facing serious problems. An enemy army had made camp [or, taken up positions] within their territory [or, in Judea], with orders from the king to destroy the Jewish people completely.

• … territory, and they learned that this army had orders from the king to destroy the Jewish people completely.

• … territory. They also learned that the king had commanded his army to destroy the Jewish people completely.

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.