And all the nations round about them tried to destroy them, for they said: The traditional enemies that surrounded Israel also heard that the powerful leader Jonathan was dead, and they decided the time had come to destroy the Jews. Tried to destroy them can be combined with let us make war on them (see the models below). Many translators will wish to follow Good News Bible in translating what the enemies said as indirect discourse. But others will keep the direct speech.

They have no leader or helper: The neighboring enemies believed the Jews had no leader since they thought Jonathan was dead. They also believed the Jews had no helper, that is, no political ally. They thought the Jews had lost the support of both Demetrius~II and Antiochus~VI.

Now therefore let us make war on them and blot out the memory of them from among men may be expressed as “Let’s destroy them and make the world forget they ever lived” (Contemporary English Version).

Alternative models for this verse are:

• The surrounding nations now believed that the Jews were without a leader and had no allies. They started making plans to go to war with the Jews and destroy them and to put an absolute end to their history.

• … They said to each other, “Let’s destroy them and make people in the world forget that they ever lived.”

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.