Then Heliodorus offered sacrifice to the Lord and made very great vows to the Savior of his life: The sense of great vows is unclear. How were the vows great? Good News Bible says “many promises,” and Contemporary English Version has “a lot of promises.” This is certainly implied. New American Bible says “solemn vows,” which is also possible. New English Bible has “lavish vows,” which is better. Heliodorus was so grateful that he promised God all kinds of things—great things, good things. The Greek word for Savior is not used here as a title for God. It is not even a noun, but a verb. The Savior of his life is literally “the one who preserved his life.” An alternative model for the first half of this verse is “Then Heliodorus offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and promised the Lord that he was going to do a lot of great things for him, because the Lord had allowed him to live.”

And having bidden Onias farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king: The king is Seleucus~IV (see verse 3). Good News Bible provides a simple, clear model here. However, another possibility is “Then he said good-bye to Onias and led his soldiers back to King Seleucus.” In languages that use directional verbs, the last clause may be rendered “and led his soldiers to go to King Seleucus.” Jerusalem is still considered the viewpoint of the author.

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.