For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien: Good News Bible renders For there appeared to them as “In the vision they saw,” which is a good model. However, in languages that do not have a suitable word for “vision,” it is possible to say “What they saw was.” or simply “They saw.” The horse is described as magnificently caparisoned. This may refer to the richly decorated bridle of the horse, or to the richly decorated cloths on it, or to both. A bridle is probably in view here. A “bridle,” which is composed of a mouth bit and its straps, is used to control a horse. For a magnificently caparisoned horse, Good News Bible “The horse had a richly decorated bridle,” which is a good model. But if that is too difficult to translate in cultures where horses are unknown, we may say “The horse had a very beautiful rope used to guide it.” With a rider of frightening mien describes the appearance of the horse’s rider as frightening; in other words, his appearance frightened Heliodorus and his men.

And it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs is literally “and rushing furiously it struck its front hoofs at Heliodorus.” The Greek word for “furiously” may go with the one for “rushing” or with the one for “struck”; it is ambiguous, and we suggest taking it with “struck.” The Greek verb for rushed usually has a different meaning, but here the sense of “rushing” fits well. There is no justification in the Greek for the word “Suddenly” in Good News Bible, nor is it implied. The Greek seems to say that when the men first saw the horse it was running toward Heliodorus. For and struck at him with its front hoofs, Good News Bible has “then reared up and struck at him with its hoofs.” The horse rose high on its hind legs and struck at Heliodorus with its front legs. “Reared” is not in the Greek, but is implied in the verb struck, since we are not to imagine the horse running toward Heliodorus, stopping, and kicking him. An alternative model for this whole part of the verse is “It ran straight for Heliodorus, and rearing up on its back legs, it struck violently at Heliodorus with its front hoofs.” New Jerusalem Bible says only “Rearing violently, it struck at Heliodorus with its forefeet,” which is adequate.

Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold: Armor and weapons renders only one word in Greek. This word may include a soldier’s weapons, but it ordinarily refers only to armor. Good News Bible and most other versions say simply “armor,” which we recommend. The armor was made of gold. This whole sentence may be rendered “Its rider was dressed in gold armor” (similarly Good News Bible).

Good News Bible reorders this verse so that the whole description of the rider occurs in the same place, and the verse ends with the horse stomping on Heliodorus. We recommend this, and here is another model that does it:

• [In this vision] they saw a horse and its rider. The rider wore gold armor, and looked frightening. The horse had on a richly decorated harness [or, bridle], and ran straight for Heliodorus. It rose on its hind legs and savagely struck down on him with its front hoofs [or, used its front hoofs to strike him savagely].

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.