For they said, “A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not harm us”: This verse is giving us the reasoning of the devout men, not reporting any words. Good News Bible‘s recasting of the verse as indirect discourse is justified. Good News Bible also identifies A priest as Alcimus, which some translators may see as helpful. Contemporary English Version provides a good model here, saying “These experts had said to themselves, ‘Alcimus has come with the army, but he is a priest from the family of Aaron, and he will surely treat us with kindness.’” Other possible models are:

• They did not think the army would do them any harm, since a priest descended from Aaron [Alcimus] had come with them.

• They knew that Alcimus had come with the army, and thought that no priest descended from Aaron was going to do them any harm.

• They knew that Alcimus had come with the army, so they thought, “No priest descended from Aaron is going to do anything to hurt us.”

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.