Besides they all recovered all of their property, in accordance with the registration, so that those who held any restored it to them with extreme fear: As the king’s decree in 3 Macc 3.28 allowed, some property had been taken from Jewish homes, but now it was given back. Besides is better rendered “In fact.” In accordance with the registration indicates that records had been kept of what was taken. This phrase may be rendered “according to records that had been kept” or “according to the government records” (Contemporary English Version). Instead of extreme fear, some Greek manuscripts have “a very large supplement” (Revised Standard Version footnote). This is due to the fact that the Greek nouns for fear and “supplement” resemble each other. We prefer the idea of fear here. So the first half of this verse may be rendered “In fact, their enemies returned all the property that they had taken from the Jews. Records had been kept, so anyone who had any of the Jews’ belongings was afraid not to return it” or “In fact, all the property that they [or, their enemies] had taken from them [or, the Jews] was returned….”

So the supreme God perfectly performed great deeds for their deliverance: For the supreme God, see the comments on 3 Macc 1.9.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• All the property that had been taken from them was returned. Records had been kept, so anyone who had any of the Jews’ belongings was afraid not to return it. Yes, God Most High did great things to save the Jews. He did all this perfectly!

• Their enemies returned all the property to the Jews that they had taken. Since the government had kept records, anyone who had any of the Jews’….

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.