Cry out now to Heaven that you may be delivered from the hands of our enemies: Translators who are trying to follow the author in avoiding direct references to God will not want to follow Good News Bible here. For Cry out now to Heaven, we may say “Pray to Heaven,” “Pray to the One in Heaven,” or simply “Pray.” From the hands of our enemies may be rendered simply “from our enemies.” Alternative models for this verse are:

• Pray that our enemies won’t kill us.”

• Pray [to Heaven above] that we can get out of this alive.”

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.