Since the action in verse 79 took place before the battle in verse 78, it is best to reverse these two verses as in Good News Bible. We will follow that order in our discussion.

Now Apollonius had secretly left a thousand cavalry behind them: The pronoun them refers to Jonathan’s army. Good News Bible makes a good move in attaching verse 79 to verse 77, since the placing of the 1,000 cavalry behind Jonathan is an essential part of the tactics described in verse 77. Good News Bible‘s rendering helpfully includes the purpose of leaving the cavalry behind: to attack Jonathan’s army from the rear. It could be made a bit closer to the Greek by saying “positioning 1,000 cavalry where they could make a surprise attack on Jonathan’s forces from the rear.” An alternative model is “leaving 1,000 cavalry behind so that they could make a surprise attack on Jonathan’s forces from the rear.”

Jonathan pursued him to Azotus, and the armies engaged in battle: Good News Bible may be followed here, but translators may join the second clause of this sentence to verse 80 by saying “Jonathan continued to follow Apollonius. The two armies fought each other at Azotus….”

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.