And they crushed the right wing refers to breaking the tight formation of the Syrians’ right battle line. As long as the Syrian front line held, the Jews could not use most of their men, who were behind their own front line. Once the Jews broke through that line, the Syrian formation lost its coherence. In the hand-to-hand combat that followed, each man had to take care of himself, and many of the Syrians fled. New English Bible translates “and they broke the Syrian right.” We may also say “and they killed most of the Syrian soldiers on the right.”

And he pursued them as far as Mount Azotus: The pronoun them refers to the Syrian soldiers who were not killed and fled. Mount Azotus is unknown. The city of Azotus, on the Philistine plain far to the south, cannot possibly be meant. Probably in translation from Hebrew, a word meaning “foothills” was mistaken for the proper name Azotus. We believe that Good News Bible is right with its reading “the foothills” (similarly New American Bible) and its textual note. This clause may be rendered “and they pursued [or, chased] the remaining ones as far as the foothills.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• They destroyed most of the Syrian soldiers on the right, and chased the remaining ones as far as the foothills.*
* Probable text the foothills; Greek Mount Azotus.

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.