It is difficult to know what kind of transition word to use at the beginning of this verse since the Hebrew text has none. Bible en français courant and New Living Translation have a contrast marker (“But”). Others, such as Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, use the word “Now.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “therefore.” But perhaps the best solution is to avoid using any transition marker at all (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

I have built is literally “to build, I built.” This emphatic construction in Hebrew may be rendered “I have surely built” (Jewish Publication Version).

Translators will recall that the archaic pronoun thee in Revised Standard Version does not reflect anything special in Hebrew, but is used in prayers to God in that version (see the comments on 1 Kgs 3.6). It should be rendered by ordinary second person singular object pronouns in the receptor language.

An exalted house is literally “a house of eminence.” The precise meaning of the term rendered exalted is not certain, but it seems to connote the idea of “splendor” or “majesty.”

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 .