So he, when he had filled his impious mind with a deep rage … : The connector So is wrong here. Translators should simply begin a new statement identifying he as King Philopator; it will be helpful to identify him, since the last grammatical subject was the elephant keeper. This clause may be rendered “Philopator’s ungodly mind was filled with more anger than before” or “Great anger filled Philopator’s ungodly mind.”

Rushed out in full force along with the beasts: Rushed out in full force means the king “stormed out” (Contemporary English Version, Anderson) with determination and anger. He did not rush out of the palace with the beasts, but went to where the elephants were standing, ready to enter the stadium. Contemporary English Version has “to see the elephants.” We may render this whole clause as “and he stormed out of the palace to where the elephants were waiting.”

Wishing to witness, with invulnerable heart and with his own eyes: An invulnerable heart refers to a heart that cannot be moved by any kind of pity. One way to render this phrase is “a heart of stone.” But if translators cannot use a figurative expression like this, they may simply say “a heart that had no pity.”

The grievous and pitiful destruction of the aforementioned people: The grievous and pitiful destruction is another example of the author piling up words that have almost the same meaning describing the awful death awaiting the Jews (the aforementioned people). Most translators should be able to find two words or phrases of similar meaning to use here; for example, Contemporary English Version has “the cruel and painful death.”

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• Philopator’s ungodly mind was filled with even greater anger than before, and he went dashing out [of the palace] to where the elephants were. He was going to see the cruel, painful death of these Jews with his own eyes, and with a heart of stone.

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.