Yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers: Good News Bible renders my sons and my brothers as “My children, my relatives,” but this inclusive language is unnecessary here. My sons and my brothers (found also in New Revised Standard Version) is better. For covenant see the comments on 1Macc 1.11. For the covenant of our fathers, Good News Bible has “the covenant that God made with our ancestors,” which expresses the meaning, but translators who are following our author in not referring directly to God will want to find another approach. A useful model for the whole verse might be “My sons, my brothers, and I will continue to live by [or, follow] the religion of our ancestors” or “… the covenant that the One in Heaven made with our ancestors.”

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.