Translators should begin a new paragraph here.

But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: The connector But will be kept in many languages to express contrast. This whole quote frame may be rendered simply “But Mattathias shouted.”

Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments: The Greek word for nations often means “Gentiles,” but here the contrast is not between Jews and Gentiles, but between Mattathias and the rest of the world. Good News Bible renders all the nations that live under the rule of the king as “every Gentile in this empire,” but a better model is “everyone in the king’s entire kingdom.” Good News Bible combines obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments into “has obeyed the king and yielded to the command.”

Departing each one from the religion of his fathers: Fathers refers to ancestors. Each nation ruled by the king would have its own traditional, ancestral religion. This whole clause may be rendered “abandoning [or, giving up] the religion of his ancestors” or “no longer worshiping the gods that his ancestors worshiped.”

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• But Mattathias shouted, “I don’t care if every nation the king rules decides to obey his commands and abandon the religion of its ancestors.

• … and stop worshiping the gods that its ancestors worshiped.

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.