Simon, the brother of Judas, had encountered Nicanor, but had been temporarily checked because of the sudden consternation created by the enemy: The meaning of this verse is remarkably unclear. There are several textual variants and conjectural emendations. Versions differ widely. The Greek text reads literally “Now Simon, the brother of Judas, had encountered Nicanor, but gradually, because of the unexpected voicelessness of the enemy, had stumbled.” Instead of “gradually” or “slowly” (Revised Standard Version footnote), some Greek manuscripts read “quickly” (temporarily). “Voicelessness” occurs in all the manuscripts. Revised Standard Version renders it as consternation (that is, bewilderment), but most versions adopt one of two conjectural emendations, which enable them to read “the sudden arrival of the enemy” (similarly the Latin text). This may be the reading Good News Bible is following with “an unexpected move on the part of the enemy.” Contemporary English Version is similar with “a surprise move on the part of Nicanor’s army.” Another conjecture, which is sometimes accepted, reads “was terrified” (the Latin text) instead of instead of “had stumbled.” So the Greek text is uncertain and the words that are there are capable of several interpretations. It is also true that the Greek grammar is a bit difficult, but correct enough. Most translations are little more than desperate attempts to make sense of the verse, and the Handbook will not claim that our approach is much more, but we do offer a model based on an interpretation that does not necessitate any change to the Greek text, and which fits the context. As we understand it, Simon and Nicanor’s forces met in battle under circumstances that gave Nicanor a definite advantage (verse 17). But he was afraid to press his advantage, knowing how fiercely the Jews would fight (verse 18), so he sent representatives to discuss peace terms (verse 19). Here we list the problem words or phrases of this verse by their Revised Standard Version rendering, and explain how we approach them:
Simon … had encountered Nicanor means Simon’s forces had started to fight Nicanor’s soldiers.
Temporarily renders the Greek word bracheōs, but we prefer the word bradeōs as in the Greek text. The word bradeōs probably means “late at night” in this context.
Had been … checked means Simon was not able to fight as he would have liked. He was thrown off balance and unable to coordinate the battle. In the model below this verb is rendered as “was put at a serious disadvantage.”
We interpret the Greek word for sudden in its literal sense of “unexpected.” In the model below we translate this word as “by surprise,” and move it forward in the verse, so that it goes with the verb “encountered” rather than with the noun “voicelessness.”
Instead of consternation, we read the Greek text, which has “voicelessness.” We interpret “voicelessness” to mean that Nicanor’s troops moved into position without making enough noise to alert Simon’s camp.

Here is our model for this verse:

• Judas’ brother Simon had an encounter with Nicanor’s troops which caught him by surprise. It was night, and the enemy was not making a sound. Simon was put at a serious disadvantage here*….
* Verse 17 in Greek is unclear.

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.