This happened, just as day was dawning: This happened may be rendered “It ended this way.”

Because the Lord’s help protected him: The pronoun him refers to Judas. Good News Bible tries to avoid the awkwardness of referring only to Judas here after talking about his soldiers. We suggest continuing to refer to the Jewish army by saying “because the Lord was helping and protecting the Jews.”

The following model combines verses 16 and 17 by placing the clause just as day was dawning at the beginning of these two verses:

• By dawn [or, When the sun rose], the Jews knew they had won, and went back [or, returned home], leaving the remaining enemy soldiers confused and terrorized. It ended [or, The battle ended] this way because the Lord was helping and protecting the Jews.

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.