So he called all his friends and said to them: The connector So is helpful, since the king’s did this as a result of his realization that he was dying. For the king’s friends, see the comments on 1Macc 2.18.

Sleep departs from my eyes: Many languages will have expressions that are similar to this one in Hebrew, but in others it may be rendered simply “I cannot sleep.”

And I am downhearted with worry: Other ways to express this clause are “I am overcome with worry” and “I’m sick from worry” (Contemporary English Version).

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.