Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible begin a new paragraph here, which we recommend.

Then Judas and his army quickly turned back by the wilderness road to Bozrah: The connector at the beginning of this sentence should be “So” (Good News Bible) rather than Then; as a result of hearing the news about Bozrah, Judas immediately turns his army around and marches toward that town. Quickly is more appropriate than “suddenly” (Good News Bible). Turned back is better rendered “turned off” (New Jerusalem Bible) or simply “turned” (Good News Bible). Judas and his men turn aside from their line of march to make a detour to Bozrah. An alternative model for this whole clause is “So Judas and his soldiers quickly turned and went along a wilderness road to Bozrah.”

And he took the city may be expressed as “They captured the town” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Bible).

And killed every male by the edge of the sword: By the edge of the sword is literally (in Hebrew as well as Greek) “by the mouth of the sword”; the expression only says that swords were used, not how they were used (whether with their edges or points). In English-speaking countries swords are seldom used for killing, whether in war or on any other occasion. Consequently there is no common expression for using a sword to kill a person. Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version translate killed … by the edge of the sword simply as “killed.” English-speaking readers would probably realize that swords were used. Some languages may have idiomatic expressions similar to the one here, but in many languages a general verb such as “kill” will be used.

Then he seized all its spoils and burned it with fire: Judas’ men raided the city to find things of value and took them before setting fire to the city. Seized all its spoils may be rendered “took everything of value” or “took all the peoples’ [or, inhabitants’] valuable possessions.” Burned it with fire may be expressed as “set the town on fire.” Most translators will probably find the phrase with fire unnecessary.

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.