And with him Lysias, his guardian, who had charge of the government: See 2Macc 11.1. A model that uses direct speech here is “and he is bringing his guardian Lysias, who is running the government for him.”

Each of them had a Greek force of one hundred and ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes: The numerical strength of armies in the Bible is often impressively large, but the numbers here are impossible. Also, the twelve-year old Antiochus could not have had an army separate from that of Lysias, let alone one equal in strength. The Greek text here is not certain, and although both printed Greek texts have Each of them had, we believe it is better to follow other Greek manuscripts, which read “moreover he had” (so Good News Bible, New English Bible, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Abel, Doran). The pronoun “he” could refer grammatically to either Antiochus or Lysias, but since they are coming together, it is clearer to begin this verse with “They had a force of Greek troops consisting of…” (Good News Bible). For translators who wish to use direct speech, they may say “They are leading an army of Syrian soldiers consisting of….” For elephants and chariots, see the comments on 1Macc 1.17. Armed with scythes means that the chariot wheels were fitted with sharp blades sticking out to the sides. This kept foot soldiers from getting close. This also acted as an offensive weapon by cutting the legs of the foot soldiers. Good News Bible has a good model for this phrase and so does Contemporary English Version, which says “with sharp blades sticking out from the sides of their wheels.”

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.