And so the ungodly man’s body swarmed with worms: Compare Zech 14.12. The connector And so may be omitted. There is a textual problem text here. Instead of body (Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible), many versions and commentators have “eyes” (Good News Bible, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Abel, Goldstein). The evidence of the Greek manuscripts is almost entirely for body, and this is the word we recommend. This clause may be rendered “The ungodly man’s body was swarming with worms” or even “Worms swarmed all over this ungodly man’s body.”

And while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of his stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay: While he was still living may be connected to his flesh rotted away by saying “His flesh was rotting away, all while he was still living.” Then in anguish and pain may be connected to and because of his stench … (see the model below). Anguish and pain are synonyms, used for emphasis. Good News Bible says “terrible pain and agony,” which is a useful model. His flesh rotted away may be translated “His skin began rotting” (Contemporary English Version). For and because of his stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay, Contemporary English Version is excellent with “He was stinking so badly that his entire army felt like vomiting.”

Here is an alternative model for this whole verse:

• This ungodly man’s body was swarming with worms and his flesh was rotting away, all while he was still alive. He was in terrible agony [or, He hurt terribly], and he smelled so bad that his whole army [or, all his soldiers] felt sick [or, felt like vomiting].

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.