But Rhodocus, a man from the ranks of the Jews, gave secret information to the enemy: Rhodocus is otherwise unknown. A man from the ranks means he was not an officer of any kind, only one of the soldiers, a “private.”

He was sought for, caught, and put in prison: There are two ambiguities here. First, the Greek verb rendered sought for can also be translated “found out” (Good News Bible). In our judgment Good News Bible is right here. Rhodocus was inside Bethzur; he would not have been hard to find. The point is that the Jews found out that he was betraying them. Second, the verb rendered put in prison can also be translated “put to death” (Good News Bible). We believe Good News Bible is also correct here. Put in prison is literally “closed up,” which is a euphemism for “executed” (compare “put him out of the way” in 2Macc 4.34).

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.