While the elders near the king tried in various ways to change his arrogant mind from the plan that he had conceived: For elders see the comments on verse 23. Near the king is literally “around the king”; we are probably to picture a group of elders circling the king, trying to change his mind.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• The community leaders stood around the king, trying in every way they could think of to make this arrogant man change his mind [or, not do what he said he would do].

• … trying in every way they could think of to persuade this arrogant man not to do what he said he was going to do.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.