But Jonathan and Simon his brother and all who were with him heard of it, and they fled into the wilderness of Tekoa and camped by the water of the pool of Asphar: The Maccabees and their followers fled from Bacchides. The text seems to mean that it was Jonathan and his brother Simon who heard what Bacchides was planning, so they led all the other men to the wilderness of Tekoa. Thus we may translate “When Jonathan and his brother Simon found out that Bacchides was planning to kill Jonathan, they fled [or, escaped] with their men….” The wilderness of Tekoa appears in 2~Chr 20.20, where Good News Bible translates “the wild country near Tekoa,” which is a better model. Other possible renderings are “the wild country around Tekoa” and “the open country around Tekoa.” For wilderness see the comments on 1Macc 2.29. Tekoa, hometown of the prophet Amos, was about 24 kilometers (15 miles) south of Jerusalem. The location of the pool of Asphar is unknown. Contemporary English Version translates this as “the water hole at Asphar.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When Jonathan and Simon heard that Bacchides was planning to kill Jonathan, they fled with their men and camped [or, set up their tents] near the water hole at Asphar in the open country around Tekoa.

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.