But as for ourselves, many afflictions and many wars have encircled us: The word order of the Greek places emphasis on the pronoun us; this is why Revised Standard Version begins with But as for ourselves. This is appropriate. Good News Bible misses this emphasis by saying simply “we.” It would be better to say “we ourselves.” Many afflictions and many wars have encircled us is well translated by Good News Bible: “we have had one series of troubles after another and have had to fight many wars.” But we may also say “we ourselves have had all sorts of trouble and have had to fight our enemies constantly.”

The kings round about us have waged war against us: Good News Bible expresses the kings round about us as “surrounding nations,” which is a helpful model.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• But as for us, we have had many troubles and have had to fight constantly our enemies from the nations all around us.

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.