Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself: Good News Bible begins verse 26 with the connector “But,” which fits well here since youngest son rejected the king’s offer of wealth and authority. For the Greek terms rendered young man and youth, see the introduction to this section. Translators do not need to use two separate expressions here; one will be enough, as in Good News Bible, which uses only “boy.” For the young man would not listen to him at all, Good News Bible has “the boy paid no attention to him,” which can be misunderstood if taken literally. The boy was paying close attention. But he refused to agree, which is what “paid no attention” would be understood to mean in idiomatic English. Contemporary English Version is similar to the Revised Standard Version with “refused to listen.” We may also say “absolutely refused to listen.” Both Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version omit the king called the mother to him, but it should be included (see the model below). Urged her to advise the youth to save himself may be expressed as “urged her to tell her son to save his life.”

After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son: She was not going to try to persuade her son to save his life. She would only pretend. Many readers will have no problem here, but some may wonder why she agreed here to persuade her son to save himself, and then in verses 27-29, urged him not to do so. The suggested model below may help.

We propose combining verses 25 and 26 as follows:

• But the boy absolutely refused the king’s offers [or, what the king promised him]. So the king called the mother over to him, and talked with her a long time, urging her to tell her son to save himself. She finally said she would.

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.