Antiochus the king besieged Dor anew: As we resume the narrative from verse 14, the Greek phrase rendered anew presents serious problems. This phrase is literally “on/in the second,” which is usually interpreted to mean “for a second time” (Good News Bible). Some manuscripts read “on the second day,” which does not make any sense here. The events told in verses 13-14 could not have taken place in one day, and the rest of this verse could hardly have taken place in one day. “For a second time” also does not make sense here. According to verse 14, Antiochus with his large army and navy had surrounded Trypho and his small band of supporters. If he abandoned his advantage, left, and returned to besiege the city a second time, he would surely find that Trypho had escaped while he was away. La Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Abel take the Greek phrase to mean “from the suburb,” perhaps implying that Antiochus moved his camp. This assumes that “on/in the second” translates a Hebrew word referring to “the second quarter” of a city (La Bible Pléiade “the new quarter”), as seems to be the case in 2~Kgs 22.14. Presumably New Jerusalem Bible is following this sense by translating “from his positions on the outskirts of Dora,” which makes sense, but obviously an army besieging a city has to be on its outskirts. The problem with this approach, apart from its reliance on a single Old Testament reference that is itself not really certain, is that it produces quite pointless information. The same may be said of the suggestion that “on the second day” refers to Monday. We are convinced, with New American Bible and Goldstein, that this phrase is nothing more than a scribal comment placed in the margin of a manuscript that was later copied into the text. It was surely meant to mark the resumption of the narrative after the interruption of verses 15-24. The reading “on the second day” would have arisen as later scribes tried to make sense of the odd phrase that had found its way into the text. We recommend that translators follow New American Bible and omit the phrase, and add the following footnote: “Probable text; Greek adds on the second or on the second day.” An alternative model for this clause is “Antiochus~VII was still besieging [or, surrounding] the town of Dor.”

Continually throwing his forces against it may be rendered “His soldiers were attacking the town continuously.”

And making engines of war: For engines of war, see the comments on 1Macc 5.30.

And he shut Trypho up and kept him from going out or in: Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible miss a point here. Trypho and all his men were already in the city. Antiochus could keep them from coming out, but the reference to going in could only refer to other people, possibly to reinforcements. New English Bible is better with “and blockaded Trypho, preventing all movement in or out of the town.” Another possible model is “He had Trypho trapped in the town. Trypho’s men could not get out, and no one else could get in.”

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.