And Simon saw that John his son had reached manhood: This clause must not be translated in such a way that it sounds like Simon was unaware that his son was growing up and was surprised to find he was a man. Good News Bible‘s model avoids this; we may also say “Simon had a son named John who was now full grown.”

So he made him commander of all the forces may be expressed as “so Simon made him the commander of all the Jewish soldiers.”

And he dwelt in Gazara: The pronoun he refers to John, not Simon; this must be made clear. The Greek verb rendered dwelt has the same sense as in the previous verse.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Simon had a son named John who was now full grown, so Simon made him commander of the whole army, and John made his headquarters at Gezer.

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.