A group of pestilent men from Israel, lawless men, gathered together against him to accuse him; but the king paid no attention to them: The Greek word translated pestilent normally refers to a contagious disease. Its purpose here is to show that these were very bad men, and translators may find their own way to do this. Good News Bible renders A group of pestilent men from Israel as “some traitorous Jews,” but this translation misses the point. A better model is “some Jews who were the scum of Israel [or, a cancer on Israel].” For lawless men, see the comments on 1Macc 1.11. To accuse him does not sound quite right in English; you expect it to be followed by specific accusations. Good News Bible therefore renders it “made accusations against him,” which does not leave an impression of incompleteness.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• A group of Jews who had no respect for the Law—the scum of Israel [or, a cancer on Israel]—got together to make accusations against Jonathan, but King Alexander paid no attention to them.

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.