But Simon gave him this reply: The connector but is a better introductory word than “and” in Good News Bible, since it gives the reader notice that Simon’s reply was not what Athenobius wanted to hear.

We have neither taken foreign land nor seized foreign property: Good News Bible translates this well.

But only the inheritance of our fathers: Again Good News Bible has a good model here, saying “On the contrary, we have simply taken back property that we inherited from our ancestors.”

Which at one time had been unjustly taken by our enemies may be expressed as “This is land that our enemies stole from us earlier.”

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.