So Judas saw that the battle had begun may be expressed as “Judas knew that they had begun fighting.”

And that the cry of the city went up to Heaven with trumpets and loud shouts: This clause gives the reason why Judas knew that battle had begun, so and that may be rendered “because” (see the second model below). Heaven is the author’s way of referring to God indirectly. For trumpets see the comments on 1Macc 3.54.

Good News Bible provides a helpful model for this verse. Two other possible models are:

• Judas could hear loud shouting [or, people shouting loudly] to God and trumpet sounds coming from the city, so he realized that the battle had already begun.

• Judas knew that they had begun fighting, because he could hear loud shouts to God and trumpet sounds coming from the city.

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.