And some have been shut up in the other cities of Gilead; the enemy are getting ready to attack the strongholds tomorrow and take and destroy all these men in one day: The problem mentioned above becomes evident here. Since the towns mentioned in verse 26 are described as strong and large, we may assume these were Gentile towns in which Jews were a minority. There the Jews could be rounded up and imprisoned. Here it is said that Jews have been shut up in other towns of Gilead. But why is the enemy preparing to attack the towns if the Jews, whom they want to kill, are already in prison? All they have to do is go in and have the friendly inhabitants of the town hand them over. Surely the Jews in the towns mentioned above were not put in prison for their own protection, with the other inhabitants of the town prepared to fight to protect them.
According to Goldstein, this resolves itself into a textual problem. His solution is that the Greek verb rendered have been shut up is a mistake for an original verb meaning “have shut themselves in,” which renders a different form of a different verb, but spelled alike except for one letter (syneilemenoi for the syneilemmenoi of the text; the first form is a perfect middle of syneilein; the form in the text is a perfect passive of syllambanein). The strongholds in question are the places to which the Jews retreated for safety. They are not necessarily whole towns. The main problem with this approach is that the textual variants look very much like scribal attempts to solve the same problem that worries us. Two manuscripts omit such a verb altogether, beginning simply with “and some are in the other cities….” (Goldstein discusses this in his commentary on 2Maccabees. He changed his mind since writing the commentary on 1Maccabees, and came to believe that his discussion on page 301 of that commentary, as well as his translation of 1Macc 5.27 was wrong.)
Fairweather and Black suppose that the plural strongholds actually refers only to the fort at Dathema (verse 9). What the Gentiles proposed to do was mount an attack on Dathema, and then collect and kill the prisoners in the other towns.
We would suggest here that strongholds does not refer to Dathema or any other large fortification, and that shut up does not mean “imprisoned” in the sense of being taken by a captor and placed in a place of confinement. What has happened, in the named towns of verse 26 as well as the unnamed towns of this verse, is that the local Jews, sensing the hostility of their Gentile neighbors, retreated to some area of each town, perhaps to a building of some kind, where they could find protection from immediate attack. This is exactly what Goldstein supposes in his discussion of the problem (see above), and it may well be that his textual solution is the proper one. It is the easier solution. In either case there is no necessary difference in translation. The Gentiles stormed the defenses of Dathema (verses 29-34), which the Nabateans did not mention in their report (unless strongholds is a reference to it), but in the towns where local Jews sought shelter they simply planned to break down their defenses, capture them, and kill them. This could all be done in one day, unlike the siege of a city. It does not suppose that an organized army would be attacking a series of settlements. The reference to the size and strength of the towns in verse 26 is thus a description of the danger Judas would face in challenging them, not of the task facing Gentile attackers. It may be read as an explanation from the author to the reader (so Revised Standard Version), or as a warning the Nabateans gave Judas.
Aside from the problem of the content of the message, translators must face a problem concerning the form in which it is presented. It may be presented as direct speech, indirect speech (so Good News Bible), or a combination of both (so New English Bible). Complicating the choice is the phrase “all these cities were strong and large” in verse 26, which is easier to handle in indirect speech.
Three models for verses 26-27, based on those three approaches, are:
• 26~They said, “Many Jews have barricaded themselves inside Bozrah, Bosor, Alema, Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim—all big towns with strong walls—27~as well as in other towns in Gilead. Your enemies are planning to break through the barricades tomorrow, take those people, and kill all of them in one day.”
• 26~They reported that many Jews had barricaded themselves inside Bozrah, Bosor, Alema, Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim—all big towns with strong walls—27~as well as in other towns in Gilead. The Nabateans explained that the enemies of the Jews were planning on breaking through the barricades the next day, taking all those people, and killing them—in one day.
• 26~They reported that many Jews had barricaded themselves inside Bozrah, Bosor, Alema, Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim—all big towns with strong walls—27~as well as in other towns in Gilead. The Nabateans explained, “Your enemies are planning on breaking through the barricades tomorrow. They will take all those people and kill them on one day.”
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.