When this was done, a flame blazed up: When may be translated“As soon as” (Contemporary English Version). This was done may be rendered “they poured the oily liquid on the stones.” A flame blazed up means the liquid poured on the (heated?) stones caught fire. Contemporary English Version says “the rocks started burning,” which is a good model.

But when the light from the altar shone back, it went out: Although this sentence in Greek is quite grammatical, it is not easy to understand, and we cannot be confident about what the writer meant to say here. We do not advise following Good News Bible (similarly Contemporary English Version), with a flame shooting out of the altar and extinguishing the new flame. This is a possible interpretation, but we think it unlikely. The best guess is that the mysterious liquid represents the eternal flame of the altar, and once that flame had been relit, it could serve no other purpose. When the leftover liquid was poured on the stones, it burned up as the light from the altar fire shone on it.

We suggest the following alternative model for this verse:

• When they did this [or, As soon as they poured the oily liquid on the stones], the stones caught fire; but the fire went out as the light from the fire on the altar shone on it.

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.