Those who were cowardly may be rendered “Some of Judas’ men were cowards.” In many languages there will be vivid idioms such as “had white livers” or “their spines were weak” to describe cowards.

And distrustful of God’s justice may be translated “and they did not trust God to do the right thing.”

Ran off and got away is an emphatic way of saying “ran away.”

An alternative model for verses 12b-13 is:

• 12 … When he told his men that they would soon be fighting Nicanor’s soldiers, 13 some ran away as fast as they could. They were cowards, who did not trust God to do the right thing [or, to be fair; or, to see justice done].

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.