What district or city, or what habitable place at all, or what streets were not filled with mourning and wailing for them?: This is a rhetorical question; a question asked for effect, not for information. It equals a strong statement. The implied answer is “nowhere.” Translators may render it as a statement if a rhetorical question is not possible or clear (see the model below). Mourning and wailing for them is not quite clear; it sounds like other people were mourning for the fate of the Jews. This seems to conflict with verse 1 but not with verse 4. In verse 18 we learn that not all the Jews were taken captive; most, in fact, were not. Perhaps Jews were mourning for family and friends being taken away. It is easier to believe that Jews were wailing. Sympathetic Gentiles may have been horrified, but were probably not making a lot of noise about it. We think it does not overload the translation to specify that it is Jews mourning here. Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• In every district and town in the country—everywhere people lived—Jews mourned with loud wailing [or, loud cries] for those who were taken captive [or, whom the Gentiles had taken captive].

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.