And when they had fully avenged the blood of their brother: While all the Jewish fighters were involved in the massacre of the Jambrites, the pronoun they here refers specifically to Jonathan and Simon. Translators should make this clear by saying “After Jonathan and Simon had fully avenged the death of their brother.”

They returned to the marshes of the Jordan: Here the pronoun they refers to all the Jewish fighters, so it can be translated “they and their men,” based on the model for the previous clause given above. The marshes of the Jordan refers to the swamps located in the area where the Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea. It may be distracting for the reader to be told they returned to the marshes of the Jordan (similarly Good News Bible), since we have not been told that they were ever there before. What is implied is that they got as far as the marshy area around the Jordan River (see the model on verses 42-43 below).

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.