And when Lysias saw the rout of his troops may be rendered “When Lysias saw that his army was being defeated” (Good News Bible) or “… that Judas’ soldiers were defeating his army [or, his soldiers].”

And observed the boldness which inspired those of Judas: For boldness Good News Bible has “reckless courage,” which is an overstatement. Judas’ troops are not being reckless, but they appear to Lysias to be without fear. So we may translate this clause as “and when he saw that Judas and his men seemed to have no fear [or, were very brave fighters].”

And how ready they were either to live or to die nobly: The word nobly should probably be understood as going only with die, not with live. Living was one possibility, but if dying was the only other possibility, they were determined they would die with honor. This clause may be rendered “and how determined they were to live or to die with honor if they had to die.”

He departed to Antioch may be rendered “he returned to the city of Antioch.”

And enlisted mercenaries: Mercenaries are professional soldiers who hire themselves out for anyone willing to pay them to fight. These are “foreign” troops, but translators must take care here. Our author consistently refers to Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) as “foreigners.” These mercenaries are foreigners from Lysias’ point of view, not from the Jewish point of view. They apparently came from outside the Seleucid empire. Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “and hired some foreign soldiers.”

To invade Judea again with an even larger army: This final clause is not really clear in Greek, and there is a great deal of textual confusion involved, but there is little doubt that Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible convey the intended meaning. We suggest rendering the last two clauses as follows: “There [in Antioch] he hired some foreign soldiers. He intended to return to Judea later with an even larger army.”

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.