And they withstood him in battle: Good News Bible says “and they drew up their troops to resist him,” which seems to indicate that an actual battle never took place; we believe this is wrong. New Jerusalem Bible offers a much better translation, saying “They resisted him by force of arms.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “and fought hard against him.”

So he fled: Fled is better translated “withdrew” (Good News Bible) or “retreated.”

And in great grief departed from there to return to Babylon: Great grief is not the right choice of words. “Great frustration” (Good News Bible), “terribly frustrated” (Contemporary English Version), or even “bitter disappointment” (New English Bible) is better. Good News Bible is probably correct by referring to the country of “Babylonia,” rather than the city of Babylon. The text has not said that Antiochus was in Babylonia before, nor does it say here that he reached it (see the next verse, where it says he was still in Persia), so a good model for the last half of this verse is “So in great disappointment he withdrew [or, retreated] toward Babylonia” or “So he began retreating, very gloomily, toward Babylonia” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible).

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• and fought hard against him and his soldiers. So in great frustration [or, disappointment] he began to retreat toward Babylonia.

• … Feeling terribly frustrated, he began to retreat toward Babylonia.

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.