Verses 29-31 list the sons of Ishmael. His mother was Hagar, the maidservant of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Compare Gen 25.12-16.

These are their genealogies: The pronoun their refers to Ishmael and Isaac. The Hebrew word rendered genealogies usually refers to a list of persons related by a common ancestor. Their genealogies has been rendered “their posterity” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée, La Bible du Semeur), “their families” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “their descendants” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), and “list of their descendants” (Bible en français courant).

According to Gen 25.16, the twelve sons of Ishmael became the heads of twelve major tribes. The Hebrew text of verses 29-31 simply lists the names of his sons, without including this information. Good News Translation and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje add it by beginning verse 29 with “The sons of Ishmael became the heads of twelve tribes.” These tribes lived in the desert and on the edges of the desert in Syria and Arabia to the east and south of Israel. Revised English Bible begins with “The sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth.” The words “The sons of” are not in the Hebrew, but Revised English Bible adds them to agree with the parallel passage of Gen 25.13, based on the belief that they have been accidentally omitted from the Hebrew text.

The first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth …: For first-born see the comments on verse 13. Depending on the structure of the sentence in the receptor language, it may be necessary in some cases to supply additional information following the name of Ishmael’s oldest son Nebaioth; for example, some languages may say “Ishmael’s oldest son was Nebaioth, whose brothers were…” or “Ishmael’s oldest son was Nebaioth, and his other children were called….”

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 .