1 Maccabees — Greek text and reception
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
Saints Translation — 1 Maccabees
Chapters 1–16 • V1 • Working translation draft • Sep 8, 2026
Reader’s guide
Complete working translation draft: all 924 verses in 1 Maccabees 1–16 are present, independently translated after direct reading of the declared Greek main text. No Hebrew comparison, critical-apparatus collation, or publication-readiness claim. Final specialist source and English review remains outstanding.
Chapter and verse references follow the publisher's online Rahlfs–Hanhart presentation. There is no Hebrew comparison text in this document. Each numbered Greek verse is represented once.
The middle column gives an independent English translation of the declared Greek main text. The final column records translation decisions and selected, sourced reception. Blank note cells carry no further claim. This working draft remains subject to qualified independent review.
Source basis
Septuaginta, edited by Alfred Rahlfs; second revised edition edited by Robert Hanhart (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), publisher's online LXX main text.
Sources and method
LXX1MA1 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 1, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA2 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 2, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA3 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 3, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA4 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 4, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA5 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 5, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA6 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 6, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA7 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 7, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA8 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 8, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA9 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 9, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA10 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 10, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA11 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 11, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA12 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 12, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA13 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 13, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA14 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 14, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA15 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 15, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
LXX1MA16 — Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta (2006), publisher online main text
1 Maccabees 16, complete chapter
Direct Greek main-text reading; no apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
AMB1 — Ambrose, On the Duties of the Clergy, Book I, chapters 40–41, §§206–210; English translation hosted by New Advent
1.40.206–208; 1.41.209–210, directly read for reception notes
English translation of patristic work; not Latin text or apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
AUG18 — Augustine, The City of God, Book XVIII, chapter 36; English translation hosted by New Advent
18.36, directly read for the author's account of Maccabean reception
English translation of patristic work; not Latin text or apparatus. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
SHAB21 — Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 21b:10, reproduced in Lucia Pizarro, Hanukkah in the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 21b–23b, Sefaria source sheet
Shabbat 21b:10, Hebrew/Aramaic and English reproduction read in full
Source-sheet reproduction of rabbinic text; direct folio page returned a reader shell, so no independent folio-edition check is claimed. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Translation terms
οὐρανός — Heaven
Capitalized when used as a reverential designation of the divine agent; sky/heaven where spatial.
ἔθνη — nations / Gentiles
Nations normally; Gentiles where the contrast specifically concerns non-Jewish populations.
ἄκρα — citadel
The fortified garrison site; distinct from the sanctuary.
θυσιαστήριον / βωμός — altar / pagan altar
The narrative often distinguishes the sanctuary altar from a foreign cult altar; contextual pagan is explanatory English.
διαθήκη — covenant
Retained for Israel's ancestral covenant and for negotiated agreements when the Greek uses the same noun.
παῖς / παιδάριον — officer, attendant, child, slave, according to context
Royal subordinates at 1:6; explicit enslavement at 3:41; children or attendants elsewhere. Legal status is not flattened.
φίλος / συγγενής — Friend / Kinsman in court designations
Capitalized for recognized royal ranks; ordinary friends and relatives use lowercase.
γίγας — giant
Heroic image at 3:3, retained from Greek.
σίκλος; μνᾶ; τάλαντον — shekel; mina; talent
Source-specific ancient units retained. The attested shekel forms in chapter 10 are σίκλων/σίκλους.
ἡγούμενος / ἐθνάρχης — leader / ethnarch
Do not turn Simon's titles into king when βασιλεύς is absent.
ἐκκλησία — assembly
The Israelite or civic assembly, without importing the later ecclesial institution.
Translation decisions
Independent English translation from directly read Greek, without a modern English running base.
Use Reference | Greek–English | Textual and reception notes; no invented Hebrew column and no artificial comparison classifications.
No Göttingen apparatus or manuscript collation has been claimed.
Dates retain the narrative's era year and named month; no unverified conversion to modern calendar dates.
All 924 chapter/verse references checked for complete, unique sequence against the directly viewed chapter endpoints; counts are 64,70,60,61,68,63,50,32,73,89,74,53,53,49,41,24.
Limited reception research: four Ambrose notes, one Augustine note, and one Talmudic festival comparison. Reception coverage is selective, not exhaustive.
Chapter 13 read through the publisher's German-language interface because the English-interface URL returned a fetch error; the Greek edition declaration is the same.
Running English is newly authored for this draft. No modern translation was used as its running base; programmatic operations only serialized, assembled, and validated manually drafted verse units.
Outstanding review
Critical apparatus review remains outstanding.
A separate specialist review of the complete English translation and historical proper names is required before publication.
Source-specific ambiguities flagged at 2:10, 2:57, 3:48, 4:61, 5:26, 8:8, 8:28, 9:15, 9:50, 10:11, 10:41, 11:28, 12:37, 13:18, 14:27, 15:23, 15:25, and 16:10 require specialist review.
The extant Greek was translated without reconstructing or inventing a lost Hebrew original.
Reception research is limited to the passages explicitly entered in the source register.
Draft review record
english review: Initial English editing completed during drafting; source-specific uncertainties retained and noted.
layout review: Not performed by content agent; root coordinator handles formatting and visual review.
reception review: Exact cited passages read; coverage selective.
source review: All sixteen chapters directly read, with every translated verse checked during drafting against its Greek chapter. No separate independent second-reader source collation.
structural review: 924 unique sequential verse units; chapter endpoint counts validated.
Document format: Native headings, three-column tables, repeated table headers, and page settings applied. Exported-page inspection is recorded separately. Automatic page-number fields could not be added with the exposed native API.