He searched out and pursued the lawless: Good News Bible combines searched out and pursued, saying “hunted down.” It is not clear whether the lawless refers to the Syrian enemy, to the renegade Jews, or to both. Some leave it general by saying “the wicked” (Goldstein, New American Bible). Others are more specific; for example, Good News Bible has “those who broke the Law,” An American Translation says “those who disobeyed the Law,” and New Jerusalem Bible uses “the renegades.” For this whole line Good News Bible says “Judas hunted down those who broke the Law,” which is a good translation, but the insertion of the name “Judas” is not really necessary. Another possible model is “He relentlessly hunted down [or, pursued] those who broke the Law.”

He burned those who troubled his people: There is widespread agreement among scholars that the Hebrew verb underlying the Greek word for burned was one that meant not only “burn,” but “purge, get rid of” (compare Deut 19.13; Jdg 20.13), and that the Greek translator chose the meaning “burn,” perhaps with 1Macc 5.5, 35, 44 in mind. Consequently Goldstein translates this line as “and he purged the troublers of his people.” Some translators may wish to follow this sense by saying “he rid his people of those who persecuted them.” It is possible that the reference to burning is figurative, so Tedesche translates “exterminated those who troubled his people.” We prefer to stay with a more literal understanding of the Greek text. As a possible model, we suggest “He burned to death those who abused [or, persecuted] his people.” Good News Bible adds the idea that Judas burned “all” the enemies of his people, but this is not in the Greek text, so translators should not include it.

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.