But he, in his arrogance, took heed of nothing: The king was so arrogant that he paid no attention to anything the elders said. The connector But may be rendered “However.” In his arrogance is literally “having become bold.” Took heed of nothing is literally “ignoring everything.” We may translate this clause as “The king, however, was so stubborn [or, defiant] that he refused to listen to them” or “But the king was so stubborn that he ignored everything they said.”

And began now to approach refers to the king walking toward the Temple building. Translators may find this clause more effective if placed at the end of the verse (see the model below).

Determined to bring the aforesaid plan to a conclusion may be rendered “determined to do what he said he would do.” Here is a possible model that reverses this clause and the previous one:

• Determined to do what he said he would do, he started walking toward the Temple sanctuary.

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.