For he said, “Let us act first to make peace with him before he makes peace with Alexander against us: Verses 4-5 are not the content of the letter mentioned in the previous verse. Instead the author is telling us of Demetrius’ intention in writing the letter. He pictures him talking to his advisers, or perhaps just thinking to himself. Good News Bible uses indirect discourse for verses 4-5; it tells what was going on in Demetrius’ mind but does not quote any words. This avoids misleading the reader into thinking these verses are giving the content of Demetrius’ letter. But Good News Bible‘s model is rather complicated. A better model that uses indirect discourse for verse 4 is:

• He wanted to make peace with Jonathan [or, win Jonathan to his side] before Jonathan had a chance to take sides with Alexander and attack him.

A possible model that keeps the direct discourse is:

• He was thinking, “I had better hurry and make peace with him before he joins Alexander and attacks us.”

In both these models and Good News Bible the logical connector for is left implied. For languages that prefer to keep it, another possible conjunction is “because.”

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.