They said that against them had gathered together men of Ptolemais and Tyre and Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, “to annihilate us”: They said may be translated “It said,” referring to the message rather than the messengers. In either case translators may choose to translate the content of the message as indirect discourse (so Revised Standard Version), or as direct speech (so Good News Bible). In Greek the pronominal references to the Jews from Galilee are inconsistent, saying them in one place and us in another. This is why Revised Standard Version puts to annihilate us in quotation marks at the end of the verse; it allows a literal translation while trying to avoid the obvious difficulty. Translating the entire report as either indirect or direct speech will solve the problem more easily (see the models below). Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon were cities on the coast of ancient Phoenicia. Galilee of the Gentiles (compare Isa 9.1) refers to the part or parts of Galilee that was predominantly inhabited by Gentiles. New English Bible and Goldstein say “heathen Galilee,” and New American Bible has “Gentile Galilee.” Good News Bible says simply “Galilee.” This does not say exactly what the author is saying, but it is not misleading. Most readers will correctly assume that these men from all over Galilee are Gentiles, or at least enemies. The Revised Standard Version footnote on Gentiles indicates that the Greek says “aliens,” but Revised Standard Version normally refers to non-Jews as Gentiles. One approach using direct speech for this verse is:

• Their message read, “Men from the cities of Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon, and all over Galilee have banded together, intending to destroy us.”

If it would be clearer or at least easier, translators could say:

• … “Men from up and down the Phoenician coast [or, Men from Phoenicia] and from all over Galilee….”

A model that reverses the order of the clauses and uses indirect speech is:

• They said that an army was ready to destroy them. It was made up of Gentiles from all over Galilee and soldiers from the cities of Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon.

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.