Instead of Pai (verse 50), many Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions read “Pau” as in Gen 36.39 (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nueva Versión Internacional, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Peregrino). As with other variant spellings of names in this chapter, the difference seems to be caused by the similarity of the Hebrew letters yod (Pai) and waw (Pau). The exact location of the city of Pai is not known.

Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab (verse 50): There are several difficulties in translating these words. First, the Septuagint translation of the parallel text in Gen 36.39 says that Matred was the son of Mezahab rather than his daughter (so Peregrino here in verse 50). Second, it is not certain whether Mezahab was a man or a woman, that is, whether this person was the father or the mother of Matred. Even more important, some scholars consider Mezahab to be a place name. New English Bible and Revised English Bible, for example, say “Mehetabel daughter of Matred, a woman of Me-zahab.” If Mezahab is a person, then Mehetabel is the “granddaughter” of Mezahab (so Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). This seems more likely than the other possibilities and is recommended to translators.

One important manuscript of the Septuagint omits the words and his wife’s name Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. Knoppers, therefore, omits these words here, assuming that these words were added to the Masoretic Text later in order to agree with the text of Gen 36.39.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .