For he knew that troubles had converged upon him, and his troops had deserted him: This verse speaks about Trypho. The connector for introduces the reason why he fled. Good News Bible translates troubles had converged upon him as “he was in a desperate situation.” We may also say “he was in deep trouble.” For his troops had deserted him, Good News Bible has “all his troops had deserted him,” but as we noted above, not all of Trypho’s troops had left him. So a better model is “most of his soldiers had deserted him.” Contemporary English Version has a good model for this verse, saying “Trypho was in real trouble now, because he did not have enough troops to fight back.”

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.