He gathered a very strong army: It sounds peculiar to have Alexander gathering a strong army after his conquests. It would be better to say “He greatly strengthened his army,” which is, in fact, what he did. Good News Bible has “By building up a strong army,” which sounds like an attempt to make this statement summarize the preceding two verses rather than describe events that happened later. This can be defended, but we think it is unnecessary and misleading. Better models are “He then strengthened [or, built up] his army” or “… gathered together more soldiers.”

And ruled over countries, nations, and princes: The Greek here is unclear. Another possible rendering is “and ruled over the lands and rulers of peoples,” that is, he ruled the lands occupied by various ethnic groups and their rulers. The American Translation (An American Translation) expresses this sense with “and ruled over the lands and rulers of the heathen.” We prefer An American Translation‘s interpretation. Ruled does not mean “began to rule” but “continued to rule.” The beginning of his rule was described in verses 2-3. So an alternative model for this clause is “and continued to rule over many countries and their rulers.”

And they became tributary to him: This means that the peoples Alexander had conquered were forced to pay tribute to him in the form of money, goods, or services. “Taxes” in Good News Bible is not quite accurate, but is probably an acceptable modern equivalent. See the comments on 1Macc 8.4.

The verse could be rendered:

• He then greatly strengthened [or, built up] his army, and was able to maintain [his] power over many countries and their rulers. He also collected taxes [or, payments] from all of them.

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.