The scene changes to Antiochus’ reaction to the bad news from Judea, so a new paragraph is justified here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version).

When the king heard this news, he was astounded and badly shaken: This news may be rendered “this report” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version) or “the messenger’s words.” Astounded expresses the king’s surprise (Goldstein “thunderstruck,” Good News Bible “dumbfounded,” Contemporary English Version “shocked”), since he certainly did not expect Lysias to have any trouble keeping things under control. Badly shaken tells us that the surprise was like a heavy blow, robbing him of confidence and leaving him disturbed, afraid, and confused. Good News Bible joins this sentence to the next one by making the next one a result clause. This works well, but is not necessary. Translators who prefer to keep this a separate sentence may certainly do so.

He took to his bed and became sick from grief, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned: He took to his bed means that he not only went to bed, but he stayed there. Grief is not a good choice of words. He is distressed and depressed. A model that reorders the clauses in this sentence is “Things had not turned out as he had wanted them to, and he was so depressed over this that he would not get out of bed.”

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.