Menelaus, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him: The king declared Menelaus innocent, even though Menelaus had caused all the problems since he became High Priest (see verse 25). Good News Bible connects this clause with the previous verse and begins a new sentence with the next line. This works, but it is just as good if not better to begin a new sentence with this verse. In languages that prefer direct speech here, translators may say “So the king declared, ‘Menelaus is innocent of all the charges against him.’ He set Menelaus free, even though he was the cause of all the trouble.”

While he sentenced to death those unfortunate men: Antiochus not only declared Menelaus innocent, but he also sentenced his accusers to death. Those unfortunate men refers to the three men sent from Jerusalem (verse 44). Good News Bible does well to make this clear, but it omits the idea of unfortunate. A better model for this clause is “but the three accusers from Jerusalem were not as fortunate; the king sentenced them to death.”

Who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scythians: The Scythians were a nomadic people of Eurasia who were known among the peoples of the Near East as the most savage of barbarians. The writer is saying that even the cruelest people in the world would not have put the three men to death, but Antiochus did. Good News Bible says “cruel Scythians” to make this clear.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• So the king declared Menelaus innocent and set him free, even though he was the cause of the whole trouble [or, all the trouble]. But the three accusers from Jerusalem were not so fortunate. Even the cruel Scythians would have declared them innocent, but King Antiochus sentenced them to death.

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.