And see that you, who have been scourged by heaven, report to all men the majestic power of God: See that you … report means “you must report.” Who have been scourged by heaven refers to the lashing in verse 26. While the young men did the lashing, God was responsible for it. This clause expresses that without saying that God himself did the lashing. Good News Bible says “punished” rather than “lashed,” but the Greek verb translated scourged can be used of punishing, without a literal reference to whips. In some languages it will be necessary to make it clear that heaven refers to God (compare verse 15); for example, Good News Bible has “the Lord of heaven,” and Contemporary English Version says “God in heaven.” Good News Bible begins this verse with the verb “Remember,” which is not in Greek; this is Good News Bible‘s way of introducing who have been scourged by heaven without using the complicated grammar of Revised Standard Version. Another possible model for the first half of this verse is “It is God who punished you. Now you must tell everyone [or, people everywhere] about his tremendous power.”

Having said this they vanished: Good News Bible offers a helpful model here. Contemporary English Version is also good with “After saying this, the young men disappeared.”

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.