Good News Bible, quite logically, moves the last clause of this verse to the beginning, to connect with the description of the Syrian army in verse 40. We follow this restructuring.

And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them: Syria is probably an error for “Idumea” (Good News Bible). The main army coming down from Antioch was composed of Syrians. In Hebrew the word for Syria and the word for Edom (called Idumea in the Greek Old Testament) are virtually identical, and confusion of the two names is a common scribal error. Idumea is mentioned in 1Macc 4.15. We recommend following Good News Bible in reading “Idumea.” Idumea was a region southwest of Judah. The land of the Philistines is literally “the land of the foreigners,” but in the Greek Old Testament the phrase almost always refers to Philistia. However, the reference here is not to the people called Philistines (see the comments on verse 24). Following verse 40, we could translate this whole clause as “There they were joined by soldiers from Idumea and Philistia” or “Soldiers from Idumea and Philistia also came to help them.” There should also be a footnote on Idumea to indicate that the Greek text reads “Syria,” but “Idumea” is the probable text (so Good News Bible).

When the traders of the region heard what was said of them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters, and went to the camp to get the sons of Israel for slaves: The merchants (traders) were certain that Lysias’ army would defeat Judas and his men, and thought that they would be able to buy prisoners of war from the army, whom they could sell at a profit as slaves. What was said of them is literally “their name.” Good News Bible renders this phrase as “the strength of the army.” Another possible model is “how large Lysias’ army was” or more simply “the news about them.” Fetters, that is, chains for the feet, is a correction of the Greek text. Instead of fetters, the Greek manuscripts have a word that means “slaves” or “children,” but the two words in Greek are so similar that either could simply be a spelling variation for the other. No textual note is necessary here.

An alternative model for the first half of this verse is:

• When the local merchants heard this news, they showed up at [or, came to] the camp with chains and a large amount of money [or, silver and gold], eager to buy some Jewish slaves.

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.