So this money was intended by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules, but by the decision of its carriers it was applied to the construction of triremes: Triremes were warships with three banks of oars on each side (see the comments on 1Macc 15.3). Good News Bible says “warships,” which is a good translation. The translation must not suggest that Jason’s messengers used the money to build warships themselves. It was given to the royal treasury, to be used for that purpose. It may be difficult to keep this verse from sounding purely repetitious. Models that avoid this are:

• The money was used to build warships, even though Jason [or, the one who sent it] intended it to be used as for a sacrifice to Hercules.

• They gave the money to be used [or, for the king to use] to build warships, even though….

• Jason had intended the money to be used [or, for them to use the money] for a sacrifice to Hercules, but the messengers decided to give it to build warships.

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.