It is for the money that Jonathan your brother owed the royal treasury, in connection with the offices he held, that we are detaining him: Trypho says nothing about the trap he had laid for Jonathan. He simply says that Jonathan, as High Priest (10.20) and governor (10.65), owed the royal treasury some money, indicating that his arrest was legal. There is no need to try to identify what money Jonathan owed the royal treasury. This statement was only an excuse. The pronoun we may refer to Trypho alone as the ruler, or to Trypho and his followers. This is also true for the first person plural pronouns in the next verse. Alternative models for this verse are:

• “We are holding your brother Jonathan because, as High Priest and governor, he owes the royal treasury money.

• “Your brother Jonathan was High Priest and governor, but he owed money to the king, so I arrested him.

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.