But the majority acted firmly with a courageous spirit and did not depart from their religion: Unlike the Jews of verse 31, who were more concerned with social standing than with religion, the author tells us that most of the Jews acted with courage, and refused to give up their faith or even compromise it. We may translate “But most of the Jews courageously refused to stop following their own religion” or “But most of the Jews acted bravely. They did not give up their religion.”

And by paying money in exchange for life means the faithful Jews paid bribes to keep from being killed.

They confidently attempted to save themselves from the registration: Being placed on the list is mentioned in verse 28 (the registration). The rare Greek word translated confidently usually means “in excess.” Here it appears to mean “naively,” meaning that they paid bribes, thinking that by doing so they could keep from being placed on the king’s dreaded list, but they were not wise in thinking that this would keep the king from acting against them. So we may translate this clause as “But they were naive [or, foolish] to think that this would stop the king from putting them to death.”

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• Most Jews, however, acted bravely. They did not give up their religion. Instead, they gave money as bribes to the officials in charge of putting the names of Jews on the list. But they really had no reason to think [or, But they were naive/foolish to think] this would stop the king from putting them to death.

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.