And the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus: Onias asked God to let Heliodorus recover, because if he died, he was afraid that the king would think he was killed by the Jewish people. Good News Bible says “he did not want the king to think that the Jews had done this to the man he had sent,” which is weak. Contemporary English Version provides a better model, saying “Onias did not want King Seleucus to think that the Jews had plotted to kill Heliodorus.” Another possibility is “The High Priest did not want the king to think the Jews were responsible for killing him [or, had planned to kill him].”

Offered sacrifice for the man’s recovery may be rendered “so he offered a sacrifice so that God would make Heliodorus well.”

Good News Bible reverses the order of the clauses in this verse. This can certainly be done, but in our opinion, the order in Revised Standard Version is better. A model that follows the Revised Standard Version order is:

• The High Priest was afraid that if Heliodorus died, the king might think the Jews were responsible [or, had plotted to kill him], so he offered a sacrifice to ask God to let the man live.

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.