For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating: Again the first person plural (us) refers to the writer himself. This clause may be rendered “It has been very difficult for me to summarize [or, abbreviate] this history.”

It is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep: Sweat is used idiomatically to refer to the hard work the writer put into the project.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Making this long work [or, history] shorter has not been easy. I have sweated over it [or, I have worked hard at it] and lost sleep [or, stayed up late at night].

• It has been very difficult for me to summarize [or, abbreviate] this long history, and I have sweated….

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.