Most versions begin another poetic passage here, but as in verses 24-28, it is not clear where the poetry begins. We believe this verse is prose as in New English Bible and Revised English Bible, and the next verse begins the poem that continues to the end of verse 40.

It became an ambush against the sanctuary: The sanctuary refers to the Temple (see verse 21). The metaphor of the ambush may be changed to a simile by rendering this clause as “The fort threatened the Temple like a person waiting in ambush for his prey.”

An evil adversary of Israel continually may be rendered nonfiguratively by saying “it was a constant, evil menace for Israel” (similarly Good News Bible).

Revised English Bible combines verses 35 and 36, since it moves the last clause of verse 35 to the end of these two verses. A model for verses 34-36 that follows the reordering of Revised English Bible is:

• 34 The men they stationed there were sinful, and had no regard for the Law of Moses. They secured the fort [or, made it even more secure/strong] 35-36 by stockpiling [or, amassing] food and weapons. (They also used it as a place to store all the loot they had taken from Jerusalem [or, the people of Jerusalem].) To the people of Israel this fort was an evil presence, constantly threatening the Temple. And in the fort the men waited like a trap ready to spring [or, to catch a victim].

We rather like this approach, since it makes the passage end on a note of tension.

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.