Therefore if any pestilent men have fled to you from their country: The connector Therefore may be rendered “So” (An American Translation) or even “Further.” For pestilent men, see 1Macc 10.61; Good News Bible has “traitors,” which fits this context well. The letter is referring to anti-Maccabean Jews who had left Judea seeking safety or asylum in some other country. Good News Bible has a helpful model here.

Hand them over to Simon the high priest, that he may punish them according to their law: Hand them over to may be expressed as “you must send them back to.” Their law is more clearly translated by Good News Bible as “Jewish law.”

This ends the letter from Rome.

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.