When he arrived in Egypt: The pronoun he refers to Philopator. At the beginning of this new section, it would be wise to name him by rendering this clause as “When King Philopator returned to Egypt.”

He increased in his deeds of malice may be translated “he did even more evil [or, violent/hateful] acts.” Some of Philopator’s deeds of malice are recounted in this section. His deeds of malice as we see in the next verses were committed against the Jews, so another possible model for this clause is “he immediately started to commit even more violent acts against the Jews” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Abetted by the previously mentioned drinking companions and comrades presents a problem, since no such men have, in fact, been previously mentioned, unless they are the “friends and bodyguards” of verse 23. The Greek word translated comrades is not the same word rendered “friends” in verse 23. If these are the same people, drinking companions probably corresponds to “friends” in verse 23, and comrades to “bodyguards,” although this is not at all certain. More likely, drinking companions and comrades refer to the same people, so these terms may be combined into one expression, for example, “drinking companions” (see the model below). Some scholars think something is missing from the beginning of the book, and a mention of these men had been made in that missing material. Contemporary English Version tries to solve the problem by omitting any reference to previously mentioned, but in our opinion this is not proper. We may render this phrase simply as “these men who were mentioned earlier” or “these men whom we mentioned earlier.” Abetted means these men actively encouraged the king to do the evil things he did.

Who were strangers to everything just may be expressed as “They cared nothing about justice” or even “they didn’t know what it meant to do right” (Contemporary English Version).

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• Back in Egypt, Philopator [or, When Philopator returned to Egypt, he] immediately committed even more hateful acts against the Jews. His drinking companions whom we mentioned earlier in this story, encouraged him to do these things. They were men who cared nothing about justice.

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.