After a hard fight Judas and his men won the victory, by the help of God: Translators may join this sentence to the next one as Good News Bible does. Another possible model that does this is “Judas and his men had to fight fiercely, but God helped them defeat….”

The defeated nomads besought Judas to grant them pledges of friendship, promising to give him cattle and to help his people in all other ways: For nomads Good News Bible has “desert tribesmen.” Another possibility is “people of the desert.” To grant them pledges of friendship is literally “to give them the right hand” (compare 1Macc 6.58; 11.50, 62; 2Macc 4.34; 11.26, 30). New English Bible translates this clause well with “to make an alliance with them.” The Greek word translated cattle can include sheep and goats as well as cows; Good News Bible has “livestock,” which is an appropriate general term in English.

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.