But in their innate malice they took this in a contrary spirit, and disdained what is good: The phrase in their innate malice accuses the Jews of being evil by nature. So we may begin this verse with “But the Jews are evil by nature…” or “But because the Jews are evil by nature….” They took this in a contrary spirit, and disdained what is good may be rendered “so they were offended by my good offer and refused to accept it.” What is good is the offer of citizenship and participation in the state religion. When the Jews of Alexandria refused this, the king interpreted their action as hostility. Here is an alternative model for the first part of this verse: “I made the Jews a good offer, but because they are evil by nature, they were offended and refused to accept it.”

Since they incline constantly to evil essentially repeats their innate malice. Just as the king insists on his own benevolence, he insists on the stubborn evil of the Jews. This clause is part of the sentence at the beginning of the next verse, so a model of it is given there.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.