Bacchides then returned to Jerusalem expresses the connection in the Greek text better than Good News Bible‘s rendering, “After Bacchides returned to Jerusalem.” When Jonathan and his men escaped Bacchides’ army, Bacchides decided to return to Jerusalem. So this clause may be rendered “After Jonathan and his soldiers escaped across the Jordan, Bacchides led his army back to Jerusalem” or simply “Bacchides returned to Jerusalem.”

And built strong cities in Judea … with high walls and gates and bars: Built strong cities does not refer to building new towns, but to strengthening the defenses of existing towns. This was done for only some of the towns in Judea. Good News Bible, New English Bible, and Goldstein combine the clause built strong cities in Judea with the phrase with high walls and gates and bars to express how the towns were strengthened. This will be a helpful model for translators. Bars refers to strong lengths of wood that were used to lock the town gates from the inside. Translators must take care not to leave the impression that Bacchides went to Jerusalem, and there, in Jerusalem, fortified the Judean towns. Obviously this is something that was done in the towns themselves. Good News Bible avoids this potential problem by saying “the Syrians,” rather than Bacchides, fortified the towns. An alternative model for this part of the verse is “Then the Syrians fortified some of the towns in Judea with high walls and barred gates [or, gates with strong bars].”

The fortress in Jericho, and Emmaus, and Beth-horon, and Bethel, and Timnath, and Pharathon, and Tephon: Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version move the fortress in Jericho to the end of the series of names to ensure that readers do not think the fortress in goes with the entire series. It does not. It goes only with Jericho. Jericho overlooked the Jordan River just north of the Dead Sea. The fortress probably refers to a fortification at the river rather than the city itself. Emmaus was about 35 kilometers (22 miles) west-northwest of Jerusalem. Beth-horon was a mountain pass 18 kilometers (11 miles) northwest of Jerusalem. Bethel was an important city about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Jerusalem. Timnath probably refers to the town where Joshua was buried (Josh 24.30), about 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Bethel. Pharathon appears to be the Pirathon of the Old Testament (see for instance Jdg 12.15), and Good News Bible adopts that spelling. It lay about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of Mt. Gerizim. Tephon cannot be identified precisely, but some scholars identify it with the Tappuah of Josh 12.17; it was actually in the southern part of Samaria rather than in Judea, and was about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of Shechem.

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.