Then the king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein: The king is Antiochus Epiphanes. The king’s officers is literally “those from the king.” It is certainly not wrong to say officers, but “officials” or “representatives” may be a bit better (see the comments on 1Macc 1.51). In this context apostasy refers to renouncing some principles of the Jewish faith in favor of worshiping the Greek gods. Compare 1Macc 1.54-58. Modein is best described as a “town” rather than a city (see the comments on 1Macc 1.51). An alternative model for the first half of this verse is “Then the king’s officials who were forcing the people to stop following the Law of Moses came to the town of Modein.”

To make them offer sacrifice may be expressed as “to make the people there [in Modein] offer sacrifices to foreign gods.”

Good News Bible offers a good model for this verse, but we may also say something like the following:

• The king’s officials were trying to force the people [or, everyone] to stop following the Law of Moses. One day they came to the town of Modein to try to make the people there offer sacrifices to foreign gods.

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.