They thought that this was their last moment of life, the end of their most miserable suspense: Compare verse 25. We may render this clause as “they realized that the waiting was over. The end of their lives had come” or “they were convinced that their terrible wait was over and that they would soon die” (Contemporary English Version).

And giving way to lamentation and groans they kissed each other, embracing relatives and falling into one another’s arms: The Jews were convinced that the end had really come this time, so they groaned, they kissed each other goodbye, and they embraced their relatives and friends. Giving way to lamentation and groans may be translated “They wept and groaned in sorrow” (Contemporary English Version). Falling into one another’s arms is literally “falling on their necks,” which refers to embracing, so this clause repeats the previous clauses they kissed each other, embracing relatives. These clauses may be combined as follows: “embracing their families, and kissing each other [goodbye].”

Parents and children, mothers and daughters, and others with babies at their breasts who were drawing their last milk: We might expect the first phrase to read “fathers and sons,” but parents and children is literally just that. The author may be building to a climax, with mothers and daughters presenting a more pitiful picture than the preceding phrase, and the picture of babies at the breast most pitiful of all. Drawing their last milk means the babies were sucking their mothers’ breasts for the last time before being killed.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• … they realized that the waiting was over. The end of their lives had come. They wept and groaned, embracing their families, and kissing each other [goodbye]. Here were parents and their children, mothers with their daughters. Mothers were nursing their babies for the last time.

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.