And the man who was ever in body and soul the defender of his fellow citizens: The man is Judas Maccabeus. Here he is described as a man who always defended the Jews with body and soul, that is, wholeheartedly, with all his might. This clause may be rendered “Judas had always been a faithful defender of his own people” or “Judas had always defended his own people faithfully.”

The man who maintained his youthful good will toward his countrymen: As an adult Judas maintained the high ideals of patriotism, love of his country, that might ordinarily be associated with young people. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model, saying “and he was just as patriotic now as he was when he was young.”

Ordered them to cut off Nicanor’s head and arm and carry them to Jerusalem: The pronoun them in the verb phrase ordered them refers to Judas’ soldiers. Arm refers to the right arm (see 1Macc 7.47; 2Macc 14.33). The translator’s problem here is to find a way to deal with the two long relative clauses that separate the subject of the sentence, Judas Maccabeus, from the verb ordered. At the end of the story the author is trying to convey an impression of appropriate wonder that Judas, who had always defended his people, ordered Nicanor’s head and right arm to be cut off. Good News Bible has a good model keeping the clauses in the same order as Revised Standard Version. So does Contemporary English Version as follows:

• Judas had always been a faithful defender of his country, and he was just as patriotic now as he was when he was young. So he ordered his troops to chop off Nicanor’s head and right arm and take them to Jerusalem.

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.