Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered Then is taken as a temporal connector by Revised Standard Version and a number of other modern versions, but it is perhaps better to take it as marking contrast between the action of Jehoshaphat in the previous verse and the prophet’s condemnation of it in this verse. Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and New American Bible express this contrast with the connector “But.” Apart from this account, nothing more is known of the prophet Eliezer. His hometown of Mareshah was located in the southern foothills of Judah (see the comments on 2 Chr 11.8 and 14.9). The information that Mareshah was a town may be made explicit (so Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Eliezer’s message to Jehoshaphat was not so much a prophecy about Jehoshaphat as a direct warning to the king. For this reason it may be better to translate prophesied against as “spoke against” (New Century Version) or “warned” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

Saying, “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made”: In those languages where direct discourse is a problem, a possible model for this quotation is “He told him that the LORD would destroy the ships he had built because he had made the agreement with Ahaziah.”

And the ships were wrecked: This passive expression will have to be made active in some languages. This may be done by saying “So the ships had an accident” or “So the ships met with disaster” (New Living Translation).

And were not able to go to Tarshish means the ships were not able to go on voyages to distant lands (see the comments on the previous verse). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “and never sailed.”

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 .