And the time of the battle with the Galatians that took place in Babylonia: The incident Judas refers to here is otherwise unknown. The Galatians were a people living in Asia Minor. This clause may be rendered “On another occasion there was a battle with the Galatian army in Babylonia” (see also the model below).

When eight thousand in all went into the affair, with four thousand Macedonians: The eight thousand refers to Jews. Went into the affair, with may be translated “came to the aid of,” “fought along with,” or simply “helped.” Macedonians were people from the northwestern part of what is now Greece. Some have suggested that here Macedonians refers to the people of Antiochus’ empire, since it was part of the empire founded by Alexander of Macedon (see 1Macc 1.1). However, this is not certain, and we recommend that translators say “Macedonians.”

And when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help that came to them from heaven, destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and took much booty: When the Macedonians were hard pressed may be rendered “When the Macedonians were losing the battle.” There is a textual problem concerning the number eight thousand. Rahlfs’ text reads “eight thousand,” while Kappler and Hanhart’s text reads “six thousand.” There is strong manuscript evidence for both readings. Goldstein reads “six thousand,” while most versions use “eight thousand.” Our own suspicion is that “six thousand” is original, and a problem was created by the abridger (remember this is an abbreviation of a five-volume work), since it sounds very much like something is left out explaining how 8,000 became 6,000. A case can be made for either reading, but translators will find it easier to stay with “eight thousand.” Good News Bible combines the two references to eight thousand and produces a clear model. Heaven here refers to God, so Good News Bible translates by the help that came to them from heaven as “all because of God’s help,” and Contemporary English Version has “God helped our troops.” Booty refers to the valuable possessions taken from the Galatians.

Good News Bible furnishes an excellent model for this verse. We would only suggest adding “… came to the aid of 4,000 Macedonians who were in serious trouble…” since Good News Bible seems to have omitted the idea that the Macedonians were hard pressed. Good News Bible also does not make it clear that 120,000 Galatians were killed. For translators who prefer direct speech here, we suggest the following model:

• At another time, eight thousand Jews fought on the side of four thousand Macedonian soldiers who were losing a battle against Galatians in Babylonia. God helped our soldiers kill 120,000 Galatians. They then took everything of value [or, all the valued possessions] of their dead enemies.”

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.