You will do well, therefore, to send word to them and give them pledges of friendship: Antiochus agrees with Lysias that the terms Judas suggests are good, and authorizes Lysias to pledge the king’s friendship. Good News Bible translates You will do well, therefore as “Please.” This will be possible in some languages, but in others where the social distance must be strictly kept between a king and an inferior, “Please” will not be used. Perhaps we could say “It would be a good thing, I [or, we] think.” And give them pledges of friendship is literally “and give the right hand” (compare 1Macc 6.58; 11.50, 62; 2Macc 4.34). This clause may be rendered “and guarantee them that I want to be friends with them.” Alternative models for the first half of this verse are “It would be a good thing, I think, if you would let them know that I promise them my friendship [or, I promise to be friendly to them]” and “I have no objection to your letting them know that I promise them my friendship.”

So that they may know our policy and be of good cheer and go on happily in the conduct of their own affairs: Good News Bible considerably shortens this part of the verse, but it contains all the needed points. Another possible approach is “Then they can know what to expect from me, and manage their own affairs without worry.”

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.