Accordingly those disgracefully treated and near to death, or rather, who stood at its gates … : The demonstrative pronoun those refers to the Jews. Disgracefully treated may be rendered “who had been treated in a disgraceful manner.” Death is literally “Hades” (see the comments on 3 Macc 5.42). Stood at its gates may be translated “were about to die” or “had almost been killed.” Many languages will have suitable idioms describing this situation. For example, English has the idiom “had one foot in the grave,” which Anderson uses in his translation. Another English idiom says “came within a hair of dying.” We may begin this verse with “So these same people [or, Jews] who had been treated in a disgraceful manner and had almost been killed….”

Arranged for a banquet of deliverance instead of a bitter and lamentable death: Here the subject is the Jews. This phrase may be rendered “arranged a feast to celebrate their rescue from dying in a sad and horrible way” or “arranged for a feast to celebrate how God had rescued them from….”

And full of joy they apportioned to celebrants the place which had been prepared for their destruction and burial: Full of joy may be rendered “The Jews were joyful.” The Greek word translated celebrants (klisia), along with the verb rendered apportioned, means the Jews broke up into smaller groups for the festivities (compare the use of the word klisia in Luke 9.14). So they apportioned to celebrants may be translated “Now, however, they divided into groups to enjoy a feast.” We suggest reordering the clauses in this verse, making “The Jews were joyful” the initial clause. This clause can be followed by “They had been treated shamefully and had almost been killed. Now, however, they divided into groups to enjoy a feast. Instead of dying in a sad and horrible way, they would celebrate being rescued….” The place which had been prepared for their destruction and burial presents a problem, since we have not been told earlier anything about a place being prepared to bury the Jews. Probably the two terms destruction (literally “fall”) and burial mean exactly the same thing. Indeed, verse 34 suggests that the king’s officials intended the bodies of the dead Jews to be left in the open as food for birds.

Any translation of this verse involves a lot of guessing, especially the order of the various elements. Here are two approaches:

• The Jews were very joyful. They had been treated shamefully and had almost been killed. Now, however, they divided into groups to enjoy a feast. Instead of dying in a sad and horrible manner, they would now celebrate being rescued, and do it in the area where the king intended for them to meet their end [or, die] and be buried.

• The Jews were very joyful. The Gentiles had treated them shamefully and had almost killed them. Now, however, they divided into groups to enjoy a feast. Instead of dying in a sad and horrible manner, they would celebrate how God had rescued them. They would do this in the area where the king had planned to kill and bury them.

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.