The sons of Jahdai: Jahdai appears without any connection to the preceding verses, so Good News Translation places this verse in parentheses. What was his (or, her) relationship to Caleb’s descendants? The following answers have been suggested:
• (1) Jahdai, not Gazez, was the son of Haran, who was mentioned in the previous verse (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Einheitsübersetzung).
• (2) Jahdai is not a part of the genealogical line in which his name and those of his children have been inserted. So Good News Translation places this verse in parentheses and introduces Jahdai as “A man named Jahdai.”
• (3) Jahdai and Gazez (verse 46) are the same person who is called by two different names. Translators may wish to add a footnote explaining this possibility.
• (4) There is no way to know what, if any, relationship Jahdai had to Caleb’s descendants. Therefore Revised Standard Version and most other versions translate the Hebrew literally without any attempt to identify Jahdai’s relationship to the people named in the preceding verses.
• (5) The name Jahdai was a woman’s name, so she may have been a daughter of Caleb, or another concubine of Caleb, in addition to Ephah (verse 46) and Maacah (verse 48).
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 .
