Invading Judea, he approached Beth-zur, which was a fortified place about five leagues from Jerusalem, and pressed it hard: Invading Judea may be expressed as “Lysias led his soldiers into Judea.” Beth-zur was a fortified Judean city southwest of Jerusalem (see the comments on 1Macc 4.29). The Revised Standard Version footnote on about five leagues is not quite right. (A league was a unit of distance used at one time in England.) The text is not uncertain, but rather its meaning (so New Revised Standard Version footnote). The distance is given in terms of an unfamiliar Persian measure, but the translator can use modern equivalents easily enough. Good News Bible says “about twenty miles,” which is a good estimate. For pressed … hard, Good News Bible has “attacked,” which is rather weak. Contemporary English Version is better with “fiercely attacked.” Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• Lysias led his soldiers into Judea, and fiercely attacked the fortified city of Bethzur about one kilometer from Jerusalem.

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.