The men in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going out to the country and back to buy and sell: This refers to the blockade that Jonathan had set up (see 1Macc 12.36). Good News Bible renders were prevented as “were now prevented,” which is misleading; it suggests the Syrian soldiers in the Jerusalem fort were unable to get what they needed only because of Simon’s victory at Gezer. “Had been prevented” is a better rendering; the siege was now in its second year. They had no way to replenish their food supplies. It is not clear what they would sell. Perhaps the meaning of from going out to the country and back to buy and sell is that they could not get out of Jerusalem to trade or barter for food. If so, we may translate the sentence as “The enemy soldiers in the fort in Jerusalem had been prevented from going [or, still could not go] out into the country [or, outside the city] to barter [or, trade things] for food.”

So they were very hungry, and many of them perished from famine: The clause they were very hungry and the word famine refer to the same experience, so this sentence may be expressed as “So they were starving and many of them died.”

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.