For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead: Judas would not have prayed for his fallen friends to be forgiven if he did not believe in a life after death. He knew that somehow those men would be held responsible for their sin in the life to come. The connector For introduces a consequence of the mention of resurrection in the previous verse. An alternative model for this verse is:

• After all, if he did not believe that his soldiers who had been killed were going to rise from the dead, it would have been a foolish waste of time to pray for them.

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.