He made peace with the men of Beth-zur: In verse 31 the Syrians attempted to capture Bethzur, but it put up stout resistance. Here it surrendered. The pronoun He probably refers to Lysias, not the Syrian king (see the comments on verse 38). Goldstein translates this clause as “However, he made a truce with the defenders of Beth-Zur.” In some languages translators may say “Lysias [or, The king] and the residents of Bethzur agreed not to fight each other.”

And they evacuated the city is literally “and they came out of the city.” This probably means only that they surrendered, literally exiting the town in the sight of the enemy as a sign of submission, not that they abandoned the town no longer to live there.

Because they had no provisions there to withstand a siege may be rendered “because there was not enough food in the town for them to defend themselves against the Syrians any longer.”

Since it was a sabbatical year for the land: The laws concerning the sabbatical year are given in Lev 25.1-7; every seventh year the land was not to be farmed. Food was scarce in Bethzur because the surrounding countryside was observing this regulation at the time of the siege. Sabbatical year may be rendered “year of rest” or even “year when no crops were planted” (similarly Good News Bible).

An alternative model for this verse is:

• At Bethzur Lysias made peace with the Jews defending the town. It was a sabbatical year, when no crops were planted. There was not enough food in town for them to defend themselves against the Syrians any longer, so they surrendered.

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.