Judas, thinking that they might really be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them: Judas did not slaughter the Arabs he defeated, but made a peace treaty with them. He thought that if these wandering people were his allies, they might prove useful at some time in the future.

And after receiving his pledges they departed to their tents: After receiving his pledges is literally “after receiving right hands” (compare the previous verse). This means the Jews and the Arabs were now friends. Tents were portable dwellings of cloth and/or skins, held up by poles and secured to the ground by cords tied to stakes. They were normally made of cloth woven from the hair of goats.

Good News Bible has a good model for this verse.

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.