soldier

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “soldier” in English didn’t have a direct equivalent in Enlhet so it was translated with “those that bind us” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ) and in Noongar it is mammarapa-bakadjiny or “men of fighting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 12:49

Translators should begin a new paragraph at this point (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible).

Then Trypho sent troops and cavalry into Galilee and the Great Plain to destroy all Jonathan’s soldiers: For cavalry see 1Macc 1.17. The Great Plain refers to the Valley of Jezreel or Esdraelon, which stretches from Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast southeast to the area around Beth Shan. To destroy all Jonathan’s soldiers may be expressed as “to kill the rest of Jonathan’s soldiers” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version).

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.