In addition, the bolder of the citizens would not tolerate the completion of his plans or the fulfillment of his intended purpose: This verse refers to certain Jews who intended to stop the king by using force; this is made clear in the next verse. The bolder means “the bolder ones”; it does not refer to one person. So we may begin this verse with “While this was going on [or, While all these others were praying], some of the bravest Jews decided….” Would not tolerate the completion of his plans means these men had no intention of allowing the king to do what he intended. The completion of his plans and the fulfillment of his intended purpose say the same thing. This kind of repetition is typical of the author’s pompous style. For naturalness translators may combine these two phrases into one phrase by rendering the last half of this verse as “… decided that they would not allow the king to do what he intended [to do].”

An alternative model for the verse is:

• While this was going on [or, Meanwhile], some of the bravest citizens [or, Jews] decided that they would not allow the king to do what he intended [to do].

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.