Just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others: We believe Good News Bible is correct in understanding others to mean “people of different tastes.” Contemporary English Version is similar with “a crowd of people with different tastes.” An alternative model that renders the first half of this verse as a separate sentence is “The work has been as hard as preparing a banquet that will please everyone who comes.”

However, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil: The future tense pictures the writer speaking at the beginning of the story, not the beginning of the work. He probably wrote this section after completing the abbreviated history itself. Consequently the future can be expressed as present tense (so Good News Bible), or even as past tense. The last half of this verse may be rendered “But I am glad to work so hard to please my readers.”

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.