You made known your mighty power by inflicting many and varied punishments on the audacious Pharoah: This verse refers to the plagues that came on Egypt in Exo 7–12. You made known your mighty power may be rendered “You showed your mighty power” or “Your fearsome power was seen” (Contemporary English Version). By inflicting many and varied punishments on the audacious Pharaoh may be translated “when you punished … in many terrible ways” or “when you used many terrible things to punish….” There is a potential problem with the word Pharaoh. This word is a title of the ancient kings of Egypt. Translators who choose to translate it as “king of Egypt” here need to do something to distinguish this king from Philopator, the king of Egypt who is about to enter the Temple in this narrative. One way is to render the audacious Pharaoh as “Pharaoh, the proud king of Egypt.” Or we may say “the proud king of Egypt in ancient times.”

Who had enslaved your holy people Israel may be expressed as “who had made slaves of your people Israel.” Holy here means they “belonged to God.” So “your people” brings out this meaning.

Here are two models of this verse:

• You showed your mighty [or, fearsome] power when you punished in many terrible ways [or, used many terrible things to punish] that proud king of Egypt in ancient times for making slaves of your people the Israelites.

• The proud Pharaoh [or, king of Egypt in ancient times] made slaves of the Israelites, your holy people, but you showed how powerful you are by punishing him in many ways.

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.