But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel: The King of kings may be translated “God, the King of kings” (Good News Bible). Aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel means God did something to make Antiochus turn against the scoundrel Menelaus. In Good News Bible the idea of the scoundrel is moved into the next sentence and rendered as “this criminal.” That works, but there is no reason not to keep the idea in this sentence; for example, “But God, the King of kings, made Antiochus furious with this evil man” or “But God, the King of kings caused Antiochus to become very angry with this evil man.”

And when Lysias informed him that this man was to blame for all the trouble: Perhaps Lysias realized that in Jewish eyes, Menelaus was not eligible or qualified to be High Priest, and his appointment was responsible for all the trouble the Jews were causing the government. We may render this clause as “Lysias told the king that Menelaus was the cause of all his [or, the king’s] problems with the Jews.”

He ordered them to take him to Beroea and to put him to death: He ordered them may be expressed as “Antiochus ordered some of his men.” This Beroea is not the Beroea of the New Testament, nor the Berea of 1Macc 9.4. It was a Syrian city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Antioch, the site of modern Aleppo (Halab).

By the method which is the custom in that place: Although Beroea was a Syrian city, the method of execution described in verses 5-6 was Persian in origin. An alternative model for this clause and the previous one is “Antiochus ordered some of his men to take Menelaus to the city of Beroea. There they were to execute him in a way that was done there.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.