But they paid no attention to their words may be expressed as “But they [Judas and his brothers] did not believe the messengers.” “Did not believe” (Good News Bible) seems to give the proper force of paid no attention. Judas and his brothers did not ignore (pay no attention to) Bacchides’ messengers; they just didn’t believe a word they said when they saw the huge army.

For they saw that they had come with a large force may be rendered “because they saw that Bacchides and Alcimus had come with so many soldiers [or, with such a large group of soldiers].”

Good News Bible reverses the order of the clauses in this verse to show that first Judas saw the large army, then he didn’t trust Bacchides.

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.