And Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the altars: Good News Bible has a good model here, although “followers” or “supporters” would be better than “friends.” Describing the altars as “pagan” makes it clear that the altars in question are those on which a sacrifice had to be made in obedience to the royal decree. In certain languages it will be necessary to describe these altars even more; for example, the verse may be rendered as follows:

• Mattathias and his followers went everywhere tearing down the altars for sacrificing [animals] to foreign gods.

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.