Instead they gossiped about the differences in worship and foods: The connector instead may be omitted (see Contemporary English Version and our model below). The Egyptians who were hostile to the Jews did not talk about the good they did, but about how different they were: how they worshiped differently, and had special rules regulating what they could and could not eat.

Alleging that these people were loyal neither to the king nor to his authorities: Alleging that may be rendered “they also accused” or “they also spread rumors about.” These people refers to the Jews. Were loyal neither to the king means although there was no evidence, the Gentiles in Egypt assumed that anyone as different as the Jews must surely be disloyal, so they began to make charges that the Jews opposed the king. Contemporary English Version renders nor to his authorities as “and disobeyed government leaders.”

But were hostile and greatly opposed to his government says the same thing as the previous clause, so some languages may prefer to avoid this repetition (see the model below).

So they attached no ordinary reproach to them: The writer here emphasizes the seriousness of the charges made against the Jews. So we may translate “These were serious charges.”

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• All they did was talk about how different the Jews were, how they did not eat certain foods, and how they worshiped in a different way. They claimed that the Jews were not loyal to the king and his government, but were intensely opposed to him. These were serious charges.

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.