army

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 16:7

Then he divided the army and placed the horsemen in the midst of the infantry, for the cavalry of the enemy were very numerous: John placed the cavalry in between two lines of foot soldiers. The ordinary tactic was to place cavalry at the two ends of a line of infantry. John apparently believed that his own horsemen would stand no chance against the greater number of enemy cavalry, so he positioned his horsemen in the middle of the line of battle. (The infantry did not surround the cavalry.) This unusual move would allow the Judean cavalry to overwhelm the enemy foot soldiers.

It is possible to reorder the clauses of this verse as follows:

• The enemy had a large number of horse soldiers, so John arranged his army so that his horse soldiers were in the middle of the line of battle, with the foot soldiers on both sides [or, in the middle of two lines of foot soldiers].

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.