But they did not so much employ the duration of the night in sleep: The king’s guests were so excited at the prospect of watching the elephants kill the Jews the next day that they could not get to sleep.

As in devising all sorts of insults for those they thought to be doomed may be translated “They spent the whole night thinking up insults to shout at the Jews while the elephants were killing them the next day.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• But they did not sleep that night. They spent the whole night thinking up insults to shout at the Jews while the elephants were killing them the next day.

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.