At this point the author inserts a few lines of poetry as a kind of commentary on the situation. Imagine seeing a film of this story. We have seen the men come together in their camp and heard their sturdy resolve to fight on. Now the camera zooms slowly out and we see the whole camp and the surrounding landscape. A voice off-camera now reads these lines, giving the audience an insight into the situation from outside the scene of action.

Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness may be expressed as “Jerusalem was like an empty desert.” For wilderness see 1Macc 2.29.

Not one of her children went in or out may be rendered “Jews did not go to the city and those who were there did not leave” or “No Jews entered the city or left it.”

The sanctuary was trampled down: This is metaphorical. The Temple was still standing. It had not been destroyed, but it had been profaned, so that as far as observant Jews were concerned, it was as good as destroyed. So we may say “Gentiles [or, Foreigners] walked all over the [grounds of the] Temple.”

And the sons of aliens held the citadel; it was a lodging place for the Gentiles: Sons of aliens may be expressed as “foreigners” or “Gentiles.” The verb held is supplied by Revised Standard Version; it may be rendered “were in.” For the citadel, see the comments on 1Macc 1.33. Lodging place refers to a type of inn in the ancient world that had an enclosed area or courtyard in which travelers and their animals could stay for the night. It is not clear, however, whether the lodging place is the citadel, the Temple itself, or even Jerusalem. Good News Bible has combined these two lines, which works well if the citadel is the lodging place. We prefer to think that the lodging place is the Temple, so we offer the following model for lines 3-5:

• Gentiles walked all over the grounds of the Temple;
they used it as a place to live,
and guarded it from the fort they built there [or, overlooking it].

Joy was taken from Jacob: Jacob refers to Israel, the Jewish people (see the comments on verse 7). This line may be rendered “There was no joy in Israel,” “Israel was left with nothing but sorrow,” or even “All the people of Israel were sad.”

The flute and the harp ceased to play: The flute is a long, thin, hollow musical instrument. The sound is produced by blowing into or over a hole at one end; the tune is made by fingering holes along its length. It can be made from hollowed wood, a reed, or a bone. Many cultures have instruments similar to the flute, and translators should not have great difficulty finding a suitable term. The harp is a stringed instrument; the musician plucks the strings by hand. Some cultures may have several stringed instruments of various sizes; a small one with several strings should be used. Good News Bible renders this line as “and the sound of music was heard no more,” which is permissible, if not colorful. We could say “flutes and harps were silent” or “and no one made music.”

This ends the short poem. An alternative model for this verse using a poetic structure is:

• Jerusalem was like an empty desert.
No Jews entered it [the city] or left it.
Gentiles walked all over the grounds of the Temple;
they used it as a place to stay,
and guarded it from the fort they built there [or, overlooking it].
All the people of Israel were sad,
and no one made music.

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.