And they remembered the blood of John their brother: This clause provides the translator with the only chance to inform the reader about events that took place between verses 36 and 37. The pronoun they refers to Jonathan and Simon. The blood of John refers to the death of John at the hands of the Jambri tribe. However, in verse 36 we are not informed that these enemies actually killed John. They merely captured him. So it will be necessary to translate this clause as “Jonathan and Simon had learned that the people of the Jambri tribe had captured and killed their brother John.”

And went up and hid under cover of the mountain refers not only to Jonathan and Simon, but to a group of soldiers that they led across the Jordan to the point where they intended to ambush the wedding procession. Good News Bible says “so they and their men went up….” Hid under cover of the mountain means that the Jews went to a mountain or hill where they could hide. The mountain has not been mentioned before, so it is more natural in English to say “a mountain” or “one of the mountains” (Good News Bible). For the last half of this verse Contemporary English Version has a helpful translation: “So they left camp and set an ambush on a hillside overlooking the road.” However, another legitimate option is to interpret the mountain as referring to a hilly area, not just to one spot, so another possible model is “so they and their men went up into the hills and hid.”

An alternative model for this verse may is:

• Jonathan and Simon knew that the people of the Jambri tribe had captured and killed their brother John, so they took their men and went to the hill country where the Jambri tribe lived. There they went into hiding.

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.