Translators should begin a new paragraph here as the scene changes to the arrival of a group of teachers of the Law approaching Bacchides and Alcimus.

Then a group of scribes appeared in a body before Alcimus and Bacchides: The scribes are “men learned in the Torah” (Goldstein), which Good News Bible expresses as “teachers of the Law.” “Experts in the Law of Moses” is another possibility. Appeared may be rendered “presented themselves” or simply “came” (Good News Bible). The phrase in a body is unnecessary, since it only repeats a group.

To ask for just terms: Good News Bible‘s “asking for justice” is more literal than Revised Standard Version, but could be misleading; it may imply that they were asking Bacchides to make right a wrong. “To treat the Jews fairly” is a possible model. They were in fact asking for favorable peace terms (see verse 13)—perhaps promising not to offer resistance in return for a reaffirmation of the terms offered by Lysias (1Macc 6.58-59).

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.