This verse constitutes a kind of summary of the reign of David. Since it comes after the mention of David’s death, in some languages it will be especially important to ensure that the verb tenses are appropriate. Note that Good News Translation translates “had been king” and New Century Version says “had ruled.” Revised English Bible joins this with the previous verse, but begins with the verb form “having reigned.”

The length of David’s reign is also reported in 2 Sam 5.4-5 and 1 Chr 3.4. He probably began to reign about the year 1010 B.C. The number forty may be a round number, rather than a precise number, indicating that David reigned for a full generation. Other persons who are said to have reigned “forty years” include Othniel (Jdg 3.9-11), Gideon (Jdg 8.28), Eli (1 Sam 4.18), Solomon (1 Kgs 11.42), and Jehoash (2 Kgs 12.1). Even though this may be a standardized expression rather than an exact number of years, all translations consulted consistently say “forty years” in all of these verses rather than something like “a full generation.”

In certain languages it will be more natural to reorder the elements of this verse, giving the separate figures for Hebron and Jerusalem before mentioning the total number of years in David’s reign. A possible model for this is:

• He had ruled for seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem, a total of forty years as king of the people of Israel.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .