It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground and to discuss matters from every side and to take trouble with details: It is the duty of the original historian … may be rendered “The historian [or, The person writing a history] must….” Occupy the ground is literally “step in,” which may mean “master his subject” (Good News Bible) or “go into a topic” (Goldstein; similarly New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Either sense is possible, although we prefer the latter one. In order to fit the latter understanding, we suggest changing Good News Bible‘s model for this verse to read “The historian must examine every detail of a topic and then explain it carefully.” Another possible approach is:

• To explain every detail is the job of the person who writes the original history.

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.