Then he encamped before the sanctuary for many days: This event probably occurred simultaneously with the capture of Bethzur, so translators may say “Meanwhile [or, At that same time] Antiochus’ army besieged [or, attacked] the Temple for a long time.”

He set up siege towers, engines of war to throw fire and stones, machines to shoot arrows, and catapults: Six technical military terms are used here in Greek. Siege towers (Good News Bible “siege platforms”) were movable wooden platforms or towers that could be brought up near the walls. Soldiers on them were better able to shoot their arrows and throw their spears at the defenders on the walls. This specific expression is used in verse 20; it is not used in 5.30, although Good News Bible says “siege platforms” there to make the text more explicit. Engines of war renders a general Greek term for various types of heavy military equipment of a mechanical nature used for throwing or catapulting things into a besieged city, or in this case, the Temple (see the comments on 1Macc 5.30). To throw fire translates a Greek noun for a specific kind of machine, or catapult, that would throw flaming objects onto or behind the protecting walls of a city. Stones renders another Greek noun for a specific machine that threw stones. Machines to shoot arrows is literally “scorpions to throw darts.” This expression may refer to an early form of a crossbow; the form of the Greek expression here would indicate that they were small weapons that a man could carry and use, rather than heavy artillery. Catapults translates a Greek word that ordinarily refers to the sling, a long leather strip used by a single soldier to hurl stones at the enemy. Technical accuracy is not as important to the translator here as conveying an impression of the efforts being made to capture the Temple grounds. A possible model for the last half of this verse is “He brought up siege platforms and machines to throw stones and flaming objects over the walls. His men were equipped to shoot arrows and sling stones.”

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.