And the cavalry was dispersed in the plain: The plain refers to “the battlefield” (Good News Bible). This clause may be rendered “and the cavalry was dispersed all over the plain where they had been fighting.”

They fled to Azotus and entered Beth-dagon, the temple of their idol, for safety: Because the Syrian horsemen dispersed everywhere on the plain, they panicked and fled. Since Azotus (Ashdod) was one of the old Philistine cities, it is not surprising to find a temple to the Philistine god Dagon there. Beth-dagon is simply a Hebrew expression meaning “house [or, temple] of Dagon.” Good News Bible offers a fine translation for this sentence, but another possible model is “So they fled to Azotus and sought safety in the temple of Dagon, the god that they worshiped.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• and the cavalry was dispersed all over the plain. So they fled to the city of Azotus and hid in the temple of Dagon, the god that they worshiped, thinking that they would be safe.

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.