Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now: The connector Therefore may be rendered “So,” “And so,” or even “But.” By manfully giving up my life now may be expressed as “If I die bravely now” (Good News Bible) or even “By dying bravely” (Contemporary English Version).

I will show myself worthy of my old age: Good News Bible misses the point here. The idea is not that by dying bravely Eleazar will prove that he deserved the long life he has had, but rather that he will die in a way appropriate for a man of his age. A better model for this clause is “I will die in a manner consistent with [or, worthy of] my old age.”

The following models for this verse render it as a sentence separate from the next verse:

• And so if I die with courage now, I will die in a manner consistent with [or, worthy of] [the dignity of] my old age.

• But if I give up my life now, with courage, it will be consistent with the dignity of an old man.

• By giving up my life now, I will die the way an old man should die—bravely.

• You see, if I leave life bravely now, people will see that I died with the dignity worthy of an old man.

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.