In verses 19-20 the Greek text goes back to indirect speech for Judas. Good News Bible provides good models for these two verses using indirect discourse. However, some translators will wish to continue with direct speech. We do this in the models below. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible insert a paragraph break here, which is appropriate if indirect speech is used here. However, if translators continue with direct speech, it will be better not to have such a break.

Moreover, he told them of the times when help came to their ancestors may be rendered “I can also remember the [many] times when God came and rescued our ancestors.”

Both the time of Sennacherib, when one hundred and eighty-five thousand perished: See 2~Kgs 19.35-36. King Sennacherib led an Assyrian attack on Jerusalem in 701 b.c. At that time God killed 185,000 of his soldiers, causing him to go back home to Nineveh. Some translators will need to make God the agent of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, for Judas is recalling the times when God helped the Jews’ ancestors. So we may render this clause as “For example, when King Sennacherib from Assyria attacked Jerusalem, God caused one hundred and eighty-five thousand of his soldiers to die.”

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.