While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery: Good News Bible renders this verse as a separate sentence, and we recommend this to translators. However, Good News Bible‘s prose is a little complicated. Note our alternative model below. Since this is the beginning of a new section, the pronoun he may be rendered “Heliodorus” (Good News Bible). The Greek does not say that Heliodorus lay prostrate (that is, lay face down), only that he lay down, whether on the stretcher or the ground, so Good News Bible is better with “lay there.” The divine intervention refers to the events of the vision in verses 25-26, namely, God showing his great power. Good News Bible has “this demonstration of God’s power,” and Contemporary English Version says “had seen and felt God’s mighty strength.” We suggest the following models for this verse:

• Heliodorus lay there. Because of God’s action [or, what God had done], he could not speak, and had no hope of ever recovering.

• After Heliodorus had seen and felt God’s mighty power, he lay there, unable to speak and without hope of recovery.

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.