He was with David at Pas-dammin when the Philistines were gathered there for battle: The pronoun He refers to Eleazar, which New Century Version makes explicit. In 2 Sam 23.11 it was Shammah, not Eleazar, who was with David at Pas Dammin. It is possible to understand the pronoun here in 1 Chronicles as referring to Shammah, but this is not the most natural way of understanding the Hebrew. The pronoun in Hebrew may be understood as emphatic, and for this reason some begin this verse with “He is the one who was with David…” or “It is he who was with David…” (Parole de Vie, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

Pas-dammim is a variant of the name “Ephes-dammin” (1 Sam 17.1), an area located west of Bethlehem toward the Philistine coast. It probably is the same as modern Damun, which is about 6 kilometers (3.5 miles) northeast of Socoh. La Bible Pléiade reads “Ephes-Dammin” here.

There was a plot of ground full of barley: The Hebrew words translated a plot of ground sometimes refer to a plot of land given to an individual out of the whole land belonging to a community. That is, the noun rendered plot refers to a part of something larger. Here it apparently refers to a field (so most translations), but it could refer to a smaller area within a larger field. NET Bible, for example, says “In an area of the field that was full of barley.” Compare also “and there was a section of the field full of barley” (Knoppers) and “A portion of the field was full of barley” (Klein).

Instead of barley, the parallel text in 2 Sam 23.11 has “lentils,” which are the flat seeds of a small, pea-like plant. The Hebrew words for barley and “lentils” are similar enough in spelling that the writer or a scribe may have miscopied one of the nouns. This may be dealt with in a footnote if considered necessary, but there is no legitimate reason to harmonize the two texts. Translators should refer to barley in this verse. Barley is a grain that was used for making bread, porridge, and beer. It was also used to feed horses, donkeys, and cattle. Barley could grow in places of low rainfall and poor soil where wheat could not grow, so it was a very important grain in Israel. Since barley is unknown in many parts of the world, the term is often borrowed from the dominant language in the area. In this context some translators may prefer to use a more general word for “grain.”

And the men fled from the Philistines is literally “the people fled…” (so New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). But the Hebrew word for “people” is often used in such a context to refer to a military group. Here it apparently refers to David’s soldiers. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is correct in translating “the people” as “the troops.” But in order to ensure that the reader knows which side is in view, others may wish to say more specifically “the Israelites” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “the Israelite army” (Bible en français courant), or “the Israelite soldiers” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .