He went through the cities of Judah: Cities is better rendered “towns” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). For the place name Judah, see the comments on 1.29.

He destroyed the ungodly out of the land: The Revised Standard Version footnote on this line indicates that the Greek reads “out of it” rather than out of the land. The pronoun “it” refers to the land of Judah, which Revised Standard Version makes clear. For this line Good News Bible says “and destroyed all the godless men,” but the Greek text does not have the word “all.” The first two lines may be rendered “He went through the towns of Judah and wiped out [or, exterminated] the ungodly [living] there” or “… and wiped out anyone who didn’t obey the Law.”

Thus he turned away wrath from Israel: The Greek connector rendered thus is literally “and.” This connector introduces a result here, so it may be rendered “in this way” or “by doing this.” For wrath see the comments on 1Macc 1.64. Good News Bible offers a good rendering of this line, but we advise against including the alternative rendering given in the footnote: “saved Israel from God’s anger.” Other possible models are “In this way he saved the people of Israel from their terrible suffering” and “… from the terrible suffering caused by these wicked people.”

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.