And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron: Apart from this incident in the Old Testament, nothing more is known of Zedekiah (“Zidkiyahu” in Hebrew) or of his father Chenaanah. There are several other people known by the name Zedekiah in the Old Testament, but this one is clearly one of the prophets mentioned in the previous verse. Good News Translation and New Living Translation make this explicit by adding “One of them.” The horns were in the shape of animal horns, not a modern-day musical instrument. By making horns of iron, Zedekiah was performing a symbolic act. In the Old Testament horns are often a symbol of power (see, for example, Deut 33.17). Although the text does not say so, Zedekiah probably fastened the horns to his head. The Hebrew noun for horns is dual in form, which means that there were only two horns. Nearly all translations say simply “horns” without indicating the number of them. The rendering “He had made some horns out of iron” (Contemporary English Version) is misleading, because the word “some” in English implies more than two. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente provides a good model, saying “he had made for himself a pair of iron horns.” Although no reason is given for the number two, the horns may symbolize the two kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat or their two armies.

And said: The Hebrew text does not state to whom Zedekiah spoke, although the context clearly indicates that he was speaking to Ahab. Some translations make this explicit by adding the words “to Ahab” (Good News Translation, Parole de Vie).

Thus says the LORD: See the comments on 1 Chr 17.4. The two levels of quotation in this verse may be reduced to one by translating and said, “Thus says the LORD as “And he gave the following message, which he said was from the LORD.”

With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed: The Hebrew verb rendered shall push is used in reference to the goring or butting of animals, but it is used figuratively here. New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and An American Translation render it here as “will/shall gore.” If translators decide to express the meaning more clearly, two helpful models for this whole sentence are “you will attack the Syrians like a bull with iron horns, and you will crush them” (Parole de Vie) and “These horns are the sign of the power with which you will crush the Syrian army” (Bible en français courant). As noted earlier, Syrians is literally “Aram” (see the comments on 1 Chr 18.5). New Revised Standard Version says “Arameans.”

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 .