His fame reached the king: Since King Antiochus is named in the next verse, translators may want to introduce his name at this point; for example, this clause may be rendered “King Antiochus heard about Judas.”
And the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas: “Every nation” in Good News Bible renders the Greek better than the Gentiles.
The two lines of this verse can be reversed to good effect by saying:
• People in every nation were talking about the battles that Judas had won, and [soon/eventually] King Antiochus heard about him.
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.
