You shall rally about you all who observe the law: The clause all who observe the law would, of course, apply to men who were capable of waging war, not just any men. So translators may render this first half of the verse as “Find fighting men who live by [or, obey] the Law.” As in the previous verse, the future tense verbs are not predictive. Mattathias is giving instructions.

And avenge the wrong done to your people: The Greek expression for avenge (literally “retaliate retaliation”) places emphasis on this verb. It is hard to express in English without becoming colloquial. The wrong done to is not in the Greek, but implied. In some languages it will be necessary to make the meaning of avenge clearer by rendering this clause as “punish everyone who has mistreated your people” (Contemporary English Version).

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Find fighting men who live by the Law [or, our Law] to join you, and then go and take vengeance for our people. I say, take vengeance.

• … to join you, and then lead them out to severely punish everyone who has mistreated our people.

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.