Since it was not possible to oppose the king may be expressed as “Nicanor knew that he could not disobey the king.”

He watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem: A stratagem is a trick. Nicanor knew that he had to obey the king, bur rather than go arrest Judas immediately, he tried to trick him into doing something wrong, so that he could arrest him with good conscience.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Nicanor knew that he had to obey the king, so he began looking for a way to trap Judas.

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.