The connector For at the beginning of this verse may be omitted. There is no causal relationship here with the previous verse.

When war or calamity comes upon them, the priests … hide themselves and their gods: The Greek speaks of war and (literally) bad things coming on the idols, and also pictures the priests going into hiding with the idols. The Revised Standard Version footnote here explains that their gods is literally “them” in Greek.

Possible models for translating the verse are:

• When war and disturbances come and the images are threatened, the priests plan where they can take their idols and hide.

• When the priests’ enemies fight against them or disturbances occur in their land, which will threaten the images [or, idols], the priests plan where they can take their idols and hide with them.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.