For it is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws: It is no light thing is expressed in Good News Bible as “It is a serious thing,” and Contemporary English Version says “they are taking a big risk.” For show irreverence to, Good News Bible has “disregard,” which is acceptable, but it misses part of the meaning. The Greek verb here implies disregarding in a way that is blasphemous or irreverent. A better model for this whole clause is “When people show no reverence for God’s Law, it is a serious matter.”

A fact which later events will make clear: The writer is referring to his narrative, the events that he will describe later on, but not necessarily in the next few verses. Good News Bible has the writer speaking to the reader here by using the pronoun “you”; this works well.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Treating God’s laws with sinful disregard is a serious matter, as you will see from what happened later.

• When people show no reverence for God’s Law, they are taking a big risk, as you will see….

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.