For there is a tower in that place, fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it has a rim running around it which on all sides inclines precipitously into the ashes: The logical connector For may be left implied (so Good News Bible). Fifty cubits is about 23 meters (75 feet). The ashes were probably only ashes, not hot embers. The victim would die by suffocation rather than by burning, but this is not certain. The meaning of the Greek phrase rendered a rim running around it is not clear. Goldstein says “a rotating device,” and Tedesche is similar with “a revolving contraption.” An American Translation has “an arrangement running all around it.” It seems unnecessary to think of any kind of mechanical device being involved. The Greek does suggest that, but the word for rim could apply to something stationary, such as a “platform” (Good News Bible). All they had to do to kill a person was push him over the edge. Good News Bible provides a good description of this place, but it would be a bit better to say “steeply sloping down.” Here is another model for this verse:

• In that city there was a tower about 23 meters [or, 75 feet] high. It was filled with ashes, and from a narrow platform all around the top the inside walls sloped steeply down into the ashes.

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.