But Maccabeus and his men, after making solemn supplication and beseeching God to fight on their side: The connector But is better translated “Because of this,” “Because of their attacks,” or simply “So” (Good News Bible). Solemn supplication translates a Greek word that implies a public prayer, so making solemn supplication may be rendered “held a public meeting to pray.” Beseeching God to fight on their side (literally “asking God to be their comrade-in-arms”) was the content of the prayer. So the first half of this verse may be expressed as “Because of this, Judas and his soldiers publicly prayed [or, held a public meeting to pray], begging God to fight for them.”

Rushed to the strongholds of the Idumeans: The Greek expression translated rushed to can be rendered with slightly different senses, such as “marched forth against” (Goldstein), “launched an assault on” (Revised English Bible), “moved quickly against” (New American Bible), and “began operations against” (New Jerusalem Bible). The idea is not that the soldiers rushed in the sense of running to the places, but that, once they had decided on a course of action, they lost no time in pressing an attack.

Good News Bible includes the first clause of the next verse (“Attacking them vigorously”) with this verse by saying “vigorous attack,” which we recommend. Another possible model is:

• So [Judas] Maccabeus and his men held a public meeting to pray, asking God to fight for them. Then they lost no time in making [or, quickly made] a series of strong attacks against Idumean forts [or, in attacking the Idumean forts again and again with great strength].

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.