This Nicanor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men: Since the story will end with Judas defeating Nicanor, this premature boast of Nicanor that he would erect a monument to commemorate his defeat of Judas gives this section an ironic beginning. In the next verse Judas, in contrast to Nicanor’s self-confident pride, put all his trust in the Lord. For This Nicanor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance, Good News Bible‘s model will be helpful for many translators. We may also say “Nicanor was filled with pride, and boasted.” The public monument of victory would probably have been a structure featuring a suit of armor taken from the enemy (see 1Macc 13.29 and the comments there). Good News Bible translates public monument simply as “monument,” since any monument is public. Good News Bible provides a good model for this verse, but other possibilities are:

• The arrogant Nicanor boasted that he was going to defeat Judas and his men and then put up a monument to celebrate his victory.

• Nicanor was filled with pride [or, arrogance] and boasted, “I will defeat Judas and his men. Then I will put up a monument to celebrate my victory.”

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.