Translators may insert a paragraph break here (so Revised Standard Version).
And all the feasts and sabbaths and new moons and appointed days, and the three days before a feast and the three after a feast: Since we cannot determine with any certainty the original Hebrew here, we cannot be certain of the precise meaning of feasts (see 1Macc 1.39) or appointed days. Good News Bible combines both expressions into “other holy days,” and then refers to all the feasts as “major holy days.” Contemporary English Version begins this verse with “On special days such as festivals, Sabbaths, or the first day of a month….” Abel has an intriguing solution. He interprets appointed days as referring to the feasts themselves—the specific days. The three days on either side of a religious festival may be intended for the protection of Jews making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the occasion. This is the approach we recommend.
Let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom means that during those times no taxes are to collected from the Jews, no matter where they live in the Syrian Kingdom.
An alternative model for this verse is:
• “On holy [or, special/set apart] days such as Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals [or, the first day of a month], and other religious festivals, no taxes shall be collected from Jews anywhere in the kingdom. In the case of the main religious festivals, this also applies to the three days before each one and to the three days after it.
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.
