Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles: Good News Bible reverses these two clauses, since logically the Jewish captives in foreign countries would need to be freed before they could be gathered together in Israel. At that time in history Jews were living in many countries of the Mediterranean world, but not usually as actual slaves. If the writer means slaves in a literal sense, he is speaking of a special group within the larger group of scattered people. Slaves are people who have “owners” or “masters,” and usually don’t receive any payment for their work. They also have no rights. Gentiles are people who are not Jews (see the comments on 1Macc 1.11). Good News Bible renders Gentiles as “foreign lands,” which works well here, since the prayer is spoken in Jerusalem, asking God to bring all the Jewish people back to Judea. An alternative model for these first two clauses of the verse is “Free [or, Please free] our people who are slaves in foreign countries, and gather all our people together, from wherever they are scattered [or, from all over the world].”
Look upon those who are rejected and despised asks God to help those Jews who are rejected and despised. The word rejected here means “thought of as nothing.” In languages that do not have a passive voice, translators need to make it clear that the people doing the rejecting and despising are the Gentiles. A possible approach is “Help our people where the Gentiles [or, their enemies] think of them as nothing [or, think of them as worthless] and despise them.”
And let the Gentiles know that thou art our God does not ask that the Gentiles may learn the fact that God is the God the Jews worship (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible), but that they may experience God’s power when he rescues his people from them (compare Exo 5.2; 7.5). Alternative models for this clause are “Let the Gentiles feel the power of you, our God” and “Let the Gentiles learn how powerful you, our God, are.”
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.