They encountered the Nabateans, who met them peaceably: The Nabateans were a nomadic Arab people who, at this time in their history, traveled the caravan routes between Damascus and Arabia. Judas and his men encountered (Good News Bible “met,” Goldstein “came upon”) them as both groups were on the move. In such a situation neither group could know whether the other would be friendly or hostile. So we are told that the Nabateans met them peaceably. For the first half of this verse Good News Bible has “They met some friendly Nabateans,” which says it well in English, although it does not mean that the Nabateans were exceptionally friendly. It just means that they were not hostile.

And told them all that had happened to their brethren in Gilead: Their brethren refers to Judas’ people, not the Nabateans’ people. Good News Bible translates simply “the Jews.” It will be helpful for translators to identify who is responsible for the unfriendly actions toward the Jews in Gilead. Contemporary English Version does this by rendering this clause as “told them everything Timothy had done to the Jews in Gilead.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• They met some friendly Nabateans who told them everything that Timothy had done to the Jews in Gilead.

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.