But Menelaus, because of the cupidity of those in power, remained in office: The connector But should be retained here to express contrast. Cupidity is greed. Those in power refers to people like Antiochus and Ptolemy, who were able to see that injustice was done because of their positions. The office is that of High Priest. The first half of this verse may be expressed as“But because of the greed of the rulers [or, those in power], Menelaus stayed on as High Priest.”

Growing in wickedness: Good News Bible has “He grew more evil every day,” which is a good model.

Having become the chief plotter against his fellow citizens: The Greek here describes Menelaus as someone who devised plans against the welfare of the Jews. But it simply means that he “became the worst enemy of his own people” (Good News Bible). Good News Bible provides a good model, but another possibility for the last half of this verse is “He became [or, grew] more wicked than ever, and became the worst [or, chief] enemy of his own people.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• But because the rulers were so greedy, Menelaus stayed on as High Priest, growing more wicked all the time. He became the chief enemy of his own people.

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.