But he only began to tear it down: Revised Standard Version has this clause as part of verse 55, but translators should follow Good News Bible and Kappler’s Greek text by placing it in verse 54. Possible models for this clause are “The work was actually begun” and “Workers actually began tearing down this wall.”

For at that time Alcimus was stricken and his work was hindered: The connector for is not in the Greek text; this is Revised Standard Version‘s way of connecting these clauses with the previous clause. A better connector in this context is “but.” Alcimus was stricken may be rendered “Alcimus became ill,” but this eliminates the implication that it was God who brought on the illness. The author, of course, never refers explicitly to God, and translators who are following the author in this will not want to mention God here. Good News Bible translates “he had a stroke,” which is perhaps suggested by the Greek verb here, but the description of the symptoms that follow in this verse, and the conditions of his death in the next verse, sound much more like the disease known as tetanus (or “lockjaw”). This is a usually fatal disease in which the facial muscles go into painful spasms, the jaw is paralyzed, and there are often convulsions of the body. An alternative model for this part of the verse is “but just at that time the One in Heaven made Alcimus ill [or, caused Alcimus to become ill], and the men stopped working.”

His mouth was stopped and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer say a word: In Greek his mouth could be the subject of the verbs was stopped and was paralyzed. The following model for this part of the verse combines these verbs and assumes that Alcimus had tetanus: “His mouth was paralyzed, and he could not speak.”

Or give commands concerning his house means, as Good News Bible makes clear, “or even make a will for his family,” that is, he could not indicate what he wanted done with his property and how his family was to be cared for after his death. This clause could be a separate sentence by saying “He could not even give instructions on how to care for his family after his death.”

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.