Ben-hadad said is literally “he said.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have inserted the proper name Ben-hadad to avoid confusion since Ahab is the subject of the verb “said” in the previous verse. In fact, even King James Version supplies the name.
Your father refers to Omri.
The English verb restore sometimes means “to repair [or, fix up] something to its former condition,” but it may also mean “to give back [something to someone]” and this second usage is the meaning of the Hebrew verb here.
Bazaars is literally “streets” (so King James Version, American Standard Version). The sense here is streets with stalls and markets where commerce may be carried out. The term has also been rendered “trading quarter” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), “market areas” (New International Version), and “shops” (Contemporary English Version).
For Damascus refer to 1 Kgs 11.24.
And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms” is literally “And I with the covenant will let you go.” For this reason New Jerusalem Bible translates “With a treaty … I shall set you free.” In some languages this will have to be translated “Ahab said, ‘If you will really do as you have promised, then I will let you go free.’ ” Others may prefer to say “Ahab said, ‘If you agree to this, I will allow you to go free’ ” (New Century Version).
Revised Standard Version has introduced the words And Ahab said in order to show that it is now Ahab who speaks and no longer Benhadad. In Hebrew the pronoun I is emphatic and may be rendered “I, for my part” (Anchor Bible; similarlyParola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). The use of the emphatic pronoun suggests that a different person is beginning to speak. It is not uncommon in Hebrew narrative for the writer to switch subjects without a clear indication that he has done so. Compare, for example, the frequent change in speaker in 2 Kgs 4.12-16, where only what is said shows that the speaker has changed. The translation in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is widely accepted and is most likely the intended meaning since Ahab has twice defeated the armies of Benhadad; Benhadad was not in a position to set the terms of a treaty between the two rulers.
It should be noted, however, that not all interpreters think that it is Ahab who speaks at the end of this verse. De Vries, Chouraqui, and Peregrino, for example, include in the quoted words of Benhadad the words attributed to Ahab in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation and in virtually all other popular translations. De Vries translates the whole verse as follows:
And he said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I shall return. And you shall establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, just like my father established in Samaria. And I shall release you from the vassal-treaty.” So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.
According to Peregrino, Benhadad proposes a new covenant with Ahab:
and Benhadad said to him, “I will return the cities that my father took from yours. And in Damascus I will give you a section of town, as my father had in Samaria. With this covenant allow me to go free.”
Ahab signed the covenant with him and let him go free.
He made a covenant with him is literally “he cut with him a covenant” (see the comments on this Hebrew idiom in 1 Kgs 8.9).
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 .