He went and did according to the word of the LORD; he went and dwelt …: Just as the writer says that Elijah went and did what God told him to do, he says also of the widow in verse 15 that she “went and did.” The repetition of the verb went in this verse may prove to be unnecessarily redundant in some languages since the Hebrew verb for “to go” which is followed by another verb is an idiom meaning “to proceed to do.” If this is the case, the first occurrence of this verb may be translated by a different word such as “departed” or the first half of the this verse may be rendered simply “he followed the orders of the LORD.” The second occurrence of the verb went in this verse is joined with the verb dwelt. Unlike the first occurrence of the verb, it is important to express its second occurrence in translation since there is significant movement toward the place near Cherith Brook where Elijah lived for some time. In some languages it may be more natural to avoid the conjunction and between the two verbs and translate “went to live” (God’s Word).

That is east of the Jordan: Regarding the meaning of the Hebrew words rendered east of, see the comments on verse 3. It will be noted that Good News Translation leaves implicit this part of the verse since it is a repetition of information given just two verses earlier (also Bible en français courant, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). If such repetition is awkward in the receptor language, then the information need not be duplicated here.

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 .