When they had all joined in the same petition and had besought the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting and lying prostrate for three days without ceasing: They had all joined in the same petition means everyone prayed for the same thing, what Judas asked them to pray for. Besought the merciful Lord may be rendered “begged the Lord to have mercy.” Fasting means they went without food (see the comments on 1Macc 3.47). For the Greek word rendered lying prostrate, see the comments on 1Macc 4.40, where a similar expression is translated “They fell face down on the ground.” The first half of this verse may be rearranged by saying “For three days everyone went without food, and lay face down on the ground, weeping and begging the Lord to have mercy.”

Judas exhorted them and ordered them to stand ready: Judas exhorted them means he urged his soldiers to have courage; he once again roused their fighting spirit (compare 2Macc 8.21; 11.7). The Greek verb translated stand ready can be interpreted several ways; for example, “stand by him” (New English Bible), “keep close to him” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “rally to him” (An American Translation). We believe that Revised Standard Version has interpreted it correctly, and so has Good News Bible with “get ready for action.” For Good News Bible Judas spoke to all the people of Jerusalem in the last half of this verse, as in verses 10-12a. However, here he more likely addressed only those men who were going out with him to meet the enemy in battle. Translators should make it clear that at this point Judas was concerned with his soldiers. A model that does this is “Then Judas exhorted his men, ‘Get yourselves ready to fight the enemy.’”

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.