But he mocked them and derided them: Good News Bible combines mocked and derided into one word, “ridiculed.” This is acceptable, but it would be good to find some way of expressing the intensity of the ridicule expressed by the use of two verbs in Greek; for example, New English Bible has “But he mocked them, jeered at them,” and Contemporary English Version says “Nicanor laughed and made fun of the priests and leaders.”

And defiled them and spoke arrogantly: The Greek verb rendered defiled probably refers to spitting, as Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version, and Revised English Bible specifically say. In some cultures where spitting upon someone is a grave insult, it will be clear to simply refer to spitting. But in other languages it will be necessary to bring out the idea of religious defilement by saying “made them ceremonially unclean by spitting on them” (Good News Bible) or “even spit on them and made them unfit to serve God” (Contemporary English Version).

By rearranging the order of the clauses in this verse, we could say:

• But he responded with arrogance. He mocked them, he ridiculed them, he spit on them.

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.