If you now have confidence in your forces may be expressed as “You are really proud of your soldiers, aren’t you?” or “Do you really trust your soldiers?”

Come down to the plain to meet us: Plain will be expressed in a number of languages as “flat places [or, areas]” (see the comments on 1Macc 3.24). Contemporary English Version expresses this clause well with “come down out of the hills and fight.”

And let us match strength with each other there may be rendered “We’ll see which army is stronger, yours or mine!”

For I have with me the power of the cities: Apollonius continues to taunt Jonathan, picturing himself as a city dweller, not someone who lives in the mountains. The logical connector for may be left implied. Good News Bible expresses it by beginning this clause with “Study the situation and you will find….”

We suggest the following model for this verse:

• Do you really trust your army? Come on down to the plain and fight! We’ll see who is stronger! My soldiers are from the city, not the countryside!

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.