And he saw that the people were trembling and fearful: Not only was Simon aware that Trypho was on the march, but his people knew it too, and were frightened. Were trembling and fearful may be rendered “were so afraid that they were shaking [or, trembling]” or simply “were very frightened.” For the first half of this verse Good News Bible is helpful with “He realized that this new brought panic and fear to the people.”

So he went up to Jerusalem, and gathering the people together: Simon had probably been somewhere along the Mediterranean coast (see 1Macc 12.33-34, 38). Went up is an idiom for going to Jerusalem from any direction. In this case Simon literally went up in altitude, from the lowlands of the coast to the mountainous interior. We do not know what kind of gathering Simon called, but presumably it was a meeting of influential leaders. So for the last half of this verse we may say “So he went up to Jerusalem and gathered the leaders together” or “… and called a meeting [or, assembly] of the Jewish leaders.”

An alternative model for verses 1 and 2 is:

• 1~Simon heard [or, Someone told Simon] that Trypho had assembled a large army [or, a huge group of soldiers] to invade Judea and destroy it, 2~and he also saw that the news of that invasion brought panic and fear to the people. So he went to Jerusalem and called a meeting [or, assembly] of the Jewish leaders.

The following model is similar to Contemporary English Version by combining these verses:

• Trypho assembled a large group of soldiers to invade Judea and destroy it. The Jews were terrified when they heard what he was planning to do. But Simon went up to Jerusalem, where he called a meeting of the Jewish leaders.

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.