Then the priests in all their vestments prostrated themselves and entreated the supreme God to aid in the present situation: Vestments refers to the robes and other pieces of sacred clothing worn by the priests. Contemporary English Version says “priestly robes.” Prostrated themselves means they lay face down on the ground. For the supreme God, see the comments on 3Macc 1.9. Entreated … to aid in the present situation means the priests prayed that God would help them in the situation they now found themselves in, with Philopator about to enter the Temple sanctuary. We may translate to aid in the present situation simply as “to help them,” without losing any of the meaning. It should be fairly obvious to the reader that the present situation is implied.

And to avert the violence of this evil design is literally “to avert the attack of the one coming on with evil intention.” No actual violence is referred to, but the king’s intention to enter the Temple is described as if it were an attack. So we may say “and to not let Philopator make [or, to prevent Philopator from making] this evil attack on the Temple sanctuary.”

Here are possible models for this first part of the verse:

• Then the priests, wearing their [priestly] robes, got face down on the ground, and pleaded with the great God to help them. They begged God not to let Philopator make this evil attack on the Temple sanctuary.

• … begged God, “Please do not to let Philopator make this evil attack on the Temple.”

And they filled the temple with cries and tears: This clause describes the scene as one in which the priests, all over the Temple area, were praying loudly and weeping. We may say “Tears ran down their faces and their cries echoed around the Temple.”

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.