But Jonathan left Simon his brother in the city, while he went out into the country; and he went with only a few men: This verse begins a description of Jonathan’s strategy while the battle was going on. Jonathan took a small detachment and secretly moved out of Bethbasi, leaving Simon in command. As we suggested above, translators may join this verse with the previous one. This would make the connector But unnecessary. Good News Bible reorders this verse for naturalness. Another model that does this is:

• Jonathan took a few men and secretly escaped into the countryside, leaving Simon to command the soldiers in Bethbasi.

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.