Then he broke camp and went to Damascus: He broke camp is better rendered “he set out again,” since the emphasis is on the Jewish army’s movement and not on their leaving camp on some particular morning. New American Bible leaves it untranslated by rendering the first half of this verse as “Then he marched on to Damascus.” This is really all that is necessary, but translators may say “Then he set out again and went to Damascus.”

And marched through all that region may be translated “His march covered that whole region.” Good News Bible says “inspecting the entire area along the way,” which probably well describes what Jonathan was doing, but is a bit more than the Greek actually says.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Then he and his soldiers continued to march through that whole region, going through Damascus along the way.

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.