But when Judas heard of this may be rendered “But when Judas heard that the king and his army had invaded Judea.”

He ordered the people to call upon the Lord day and night: Judas told his people to pray to the Lord both day and night. The rest of this verse and the next one tell what he wanted them to pray for.

Now if ever to help those who were on the point of being deprived of the law and their country and the holy temple: The Jews needed the Lord’s help more than they ever did before. Good News Bible places now if ever to help those at the end of the verse, saying “As never before, they needed his help and protection.” Some translators will find this helpful. Deprived of the law means they would be forbidden to obey the Jewish Law. Deprived of … their country means they would lose control over affairs in their country. Deprived of … the holy temple means they would not be allowed to worship in the Temple, or perhaps be unable to use it if it were made unclean. Good News Bible expresses on the point of being deprived of as “in danger of losing” these things.

As noted above, Good News Bible rearranges the clauses in this verse in a way that will be helpful to some translators. Another possible model is:

• When Judas heard that King Antiochus and his army were invading Judea, he told everyone to pray to the Lord day and night, because they needed the Lord’s help now more than ever. They might not be able to live by their Law, or worship at their holy Temple. They might lose control over their country.

For those who prefer to use direct speech for the prayer, here is a possible model:

• But when Judas heard that the king was invading Judea with his army, he ordered the people, “Pray night and day, saying, ‘Lord, we need you to protect us now more than ever before. Please don’t let them take away our Law and our country, or keep us from worshiping in your Temple.’”

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.