And now let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us may be expressed as “Now let us ask Heaven [or, the One in Heaven] to be kind to us.”

And remember his covenant with our fathers and crush this army before us today may be rendered “and keep the agreement he made with our ancestors by crushing [or, destroying/wiping out] Gorgias’ soldiers when they attack us today.” Translators following the author in avoiding direct references to God must take care here.

Possible models for this verse are:

• Now we must [or, let us] call on Heaven [or, the One in Heaven] to help us [or, be kind to us]. Let us ask him to keep the agreement he made with our ancestors by crushing [or, destroying/wiping out] the army facing us today.

• … Let us ask him to crush [or, destroy/wipe out] the enemy facing us today, and so keep the agreement he 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.