The battle begins and translators may start a new paragraph at this point (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version).

Then both sides attacked: Good News Bible says “The battle began,” which is a good model. But this clause may also be rendered “The two armies attacked each other” or even “The Jewish and Syrian soldiers attacked each other.”

And there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men may be expressed as “and as they fought, about five thousand of Lysias’ soldiers died [or, were killed]” or “and Judas’ soldiers killed about five thousand of Lysias’ soldiers.”

They fell in action: Revised Standard Version‘s footnote gives an alternative rendering for the ambiguous clause here in Greek. We prefer the meaning Revised Standard Version gives in its text. However, its rendering is rather obscure. Good News Bible is better with “hand-to-hand fighting.” This final clause really repeats what has been said in the previous one. Thus it is possible to combine them and translate the verse as follows:

• The Jewish and Syrian soldiers attacked each other, and as they fought, Judas’ soldiers killed about 5,000 [or, five thousand] of Lysias’ soldiers.

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.