And inflamed with anger means Antiochus became very angry. This clause may be rendered “In a burning fury” (New English Bible), “and he became so very angry that,” “Then he became furious” (Contemporary English Version), or even “and his blood boiled.”

He immediately stripped off the purple robe from Andronicus: The word immediately presents a minor problem, since the action in verse 37 implies the passage of at least a little time. Translators may be able to relieve the problem by expressing immediately as “right then and there,” “on the spot,” or even “suddenly.” A purple robe was worn by the men called “Friends of the King” (see the comments on 1Macc 10.20). Good News Bible says “royal robe,” which may be misleading since Andronicus was not a king. This whole clause may be rendered “Suddenly he tore the purple robe off Andronicus.”

Tore off his garments means he “stripped him naked” (Good News Bible). The idea of “naked” may be included in the following clause; for example, “tore off all his other garments, and made him walk naked….”

And led him about the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias: Antiochus humiliated Andronicus by making him walk naked through the city streets to the spot where he had killed Onias. For led him, Good News Bible has “marched him,” which is idiomatic English. It may also be rendered “forced him to walk.” Where he had committed the outrage against Onias is better rendered by Goldstein as “where he had committed the sacrilege against Onias.” The point here is that Andronicus violated the holiness of Onias’ priesthood. An alternative model for the first part of this verse is “Antiochus became very angry with Andronicus. Suddenly he tore the purple robe off him. Then he tore off all his other clothes and forced him to walk naked through the whole city to the place where he had committed the sacrilegious murder of Onias [or, the murder of Onias with such great bad taboo].”

And there he dispatched the bloodthirsty fellow: Goldstein’s translation is both more literal and more striking, saying “There he removed the murderer from the world.”

The Lord thus repaid him with the punishment he deserved: Good News Bible provides a good model here.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• He became furious with Andronicus. Suddenly he stripped off Andronicus’ purple robe. Then he tore off his other clothes and forced him to walk naked through the city to the place where he had shown such contempt for Onias as a priest by murdering him. There he removed the murderer from the world. This was how the Lord gave Andronicus the punishment he deserved.

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.