And those who remained behind in the city were agitated and hurried out: Those who remained behind in the city or “those who were left behind…” is what the Greek says, but it is hard to imagine what the author has in mind by that. Contemporary English Version reduces this phrase to simply “everyone in Jerusalem.” Perhaps a bit better model is “people who were elsewhere in the city.” Were agitated describes their reaction to the mournful sounds coming from the Temple. Translators may feel the need to insert something to the effect that these people heard the noise, which the author only implies. We could say, for example, “heard the noise and became frightened.” Hurried out may suggest that the people were indoors, but more probably means they came running toward the noise. Many translators will need to specify that they were running toward the Temple, saying “ran toward the Temple.”

Supposing that something mysterious was occurring: Mysterious is not quite the right word here, nor is “very unusual” (Contemporary English Version) or “strange” (Hadas). The Greek word here suggests something out of the ordinary, but something clearly bad. We prefer to render this clause as “certain that something terrible was happening.”

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• People elsewhere in the city were alarmed [or, frightened] when they heard the noise. So they ran toward the Temple, sure that something terrible was happening.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.