The house which I am to build will be great: As in the previous verse, I am to build may be rendered “I am building.” But most versions correctly take these words to have an immediate future meaning.

For our God is greater than all gods: The connector for introduces the reason for the grandeur of the proposed Temple. It is because of the greatness of God, who surpasses all other deities, that the structure must be an unusually impressive one. As in the previous verse, the pronoun our is exclusive.

Good News Translation restructures this verse so that Solomon, rather than the Temple, is the grammatical subject of the sentence. But this kind of restructuring takes the focus off the Temple and slightly shifts the focus. If other languages have a natural way of keeping the Temple in focus, such a translation is recommended. The words which I am to build may even be left implicit since the previous verse has stated that Solomon is the one who is going to build the Temple. Contemporary English Version, for example, says simply “This will be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods.” In some languages it may prove to be more natural to state the reason first and then speak of the greatness of the building to be constructed. One model that does this is:

• Because our God is greater than any other god, the temple I build will be truly great.

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 .