Antioch

The Greek that is transliterated as “Antioch” in English means “driven against.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997)

In Western Lawa it is given the prefix weīyng (เวียง) to denote it as a larger settlement.

David Clark (in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 54ff. ) explains: “Place names often present difficulties in minority languages in Thailand, where it is normal to prefix unfamiliar names with a ‘classifier’ to show whether the name refers to a town, village, river, mountain, island, and so on. The problem in many such languages is that whereas English has numerous terms for human settlements of different size and importance (metropolis, conurbation, city, town, village, hamlet, etc.), they have only two terms. Generally, one refers to a metropolis like Bangkok, and the other to virtually all other settlements. This kind of contrast does not transfer well into the historical and cultural setting of the Bible, where even quite large towns were relatively small by modern standards. Especially in the Old Testament, what the Hebrew text calls ‘cities’ (because they had a wall) would often be classed as no more than villages in Thai minority languages. What many translators have done is to apply the term for a larger settlement to places of importance in the narrative, even if they were not very large in absolute terms. Thus in Lawa, Antioch, which is of considerable significance in Acts, is given the label for the larger size of settlement (weīyng).”

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Antioch .

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 11:12 - 11:13

In the interest of clarifying the confusing narrative here, and acting on the assumption that the two actions described in point 3 above take place, for practical purposes, at the same time, we suggest reordering the material in these two verses. We discuss the material according to the suggested reordering.

He was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity became manifest may be rendered “He broke all ties with Alexander, and became his open enemy [or, everyone knew that they were enemies].”

Then Ptolemy entered Antioch and put on the crown of Asia: Revised Standard Version has a paragraph break here, which we do not recommend. Asia is used here, as in 1Macc 8.6, to refer to the Syrian Empire. Good News Bible has “Syria,” which is acceptable. So for this sentence we may say “Ptolemy entered Antioch, where he crowned himself king of Syria.”

Thus he put two crowns upon his head, the crown of Egypt and that of Asia: This clause does not mean that he wore two crowns at the same time. It may be translated “and so he now claimed to be king not only of Egypt, but of Syria as well.”

So he took his daughter away from him and gave her to Demetrius: Whether Demetrius was actually present or not, Ptolemy claimed his daughter for Demetrius.

Here is a possible model that combines verses 12-13:

• He broke all ties with Alexander, and became his open enemy. He entered Antioch, where he crowned himself king of Asia [or, Syria]. He now claimed to be king not only of Egypt, but of Syria as well. He also took his daughter back from Alexander and gave her to Demetrius as his wife.

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.