Now then send a man whom you trust: Good News Bible begins this verse with “We advise you to send someone whom you can trust,” because in English a simple imperative (send) sounds abrupt when speaking to a superior. Contemporary English Version says “Please send an officer you can rely on,” which is also possible.

Let him go and see all the ruin which Judas has brought upon us and upon the land of the king: Go and see is better rendered by Good News Bible as “go and inspect.” The king’s envoy was not to just see but to carefully look and ensure that what they were complaining about was true. The Greek word for ruin refers to physical destruction, so upon us must mean “to our property” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The land of the king here refers to territory ruled by the king (so Good News Bible) that is not his own personal land.

And let him punish them and all who help them: Good News Bible adds “his brothers” since it seems to be implied in the pronoun them (only Judas was mentioned in the previous clause). Another approach to this would be to render this whole clause as “and to punish Judas and all who support him.” Missing from Good News Bible in the last half of this verse is the idea that Judas caused the ruin. We could say “to go and inspect all the damage that Judas and his supporters have done to our property and to the king’s territory, and to punish them.”

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.