To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart: More than anyone else, the High Priest was responsible for the deposits in the Temple, and since Onias was a devout man who took his duties seriously (verse 1), it gave him great personal pain to know what was happening and to know he could do nothing to stop it. His anguish could be seen on his face. For was to be wounded at heart, Good News Bible uses the English idiom “was heartbreaking.” Many other languages will have similar effective idioms using the “heart” or other organs such as the stomach or liver to describe how the people felt when they saw Onias’ anguish.

For his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul means the change in color on Onias’ face showed he was very sad. Good News Bible renders his face and the change in his color as “His face turned pale.” Other languages may have a similar expression for a face that changes color due to sorrow, for example, “His face became white.” An alternative model for the last half of this verse is “His face became pale [or, white] and showed his sorrow.”

Translators may consider reordering this verse, so that it connects better with the next one. A model that does this is:

• The High Priest was in agony [of soul]. His face was pale and sorrowful, and it was heartbreaking just to look at him [or, our heart broke when we looked at him].

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.