And they determined to destroy the descendants of Jacob who lived among them: The descendants of Jacob who lived among them refers to the Jews who were living in the predominantly Gentile regions surrounding Judea. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this first half of the verse, saying “and were determined to kill every Jew who lived among them.”

So they began to kill and destroy among the people: The Greek verbs rendered kill and destroy may or may not be synonymous. For Good News Bible and many other versions they are synonymous. However, the verb for destroy may mean “remove,” so New Jerusalem Bible renders this sentence as “they began to murder and evict our people.” We prefers this, and would suggest “So they began to murder some of our people, and to drive others out of their territory.”

An alternative model for verses 1-2 is:

• 1 When the Gentiles who lived on the borders of Judea heard that the Jews had built a new altar and made the Temple ready for use again, they became furious 2 and decided to kill the Jews who lived among them. So they began to murder some of our people and drive others out of their territory.

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.