And as soon as …: In Hebrew this verse begins with the verbal transition that is sometimes rendered “Now it came to pass” (King James Version). Like Good News Translation, most versions omit it here. As soon as renders a Hebrew conjunction which usually indicates that two situations happened at the same time, or at nearly the same time. Another way to render it is “Once” (New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
The royal power was firmly in his hand is literally “the kingdom was strong/firm upon him.” The Revised Standard Version rendering may be unduly influenced by the parallel text in 2 Kgs 14.5, which reads literally “the kingdom was strong/firm in his hand.” The expression here may be more naturally rendered in some languages as “his power was absolute,” “he had complete control of Judah,” or “Amaziah was well established as king” (New Living Translation).
He killed his servants who had slain the king his father: His servants refers to Zabad and Jehozabad (see 2 Chr 24.25-26). As is often the case in the Old Testament, the term servants refers to high-level officials of the king’s court rather than to domestic household servants. A literal rendering is therefore likely to be misunderstood in many languages. These officials had assassinated Joash, the father of Amaziah, and therefore had to be executed. The king his father refers to Joash. Bible en français courant makes this explicit by saying “his father, King Joash.” Good News Translation omits the information that Amaziah’s father was also a king. But since this is the beginning of a new section, and since not all men who became kings were sons of kings, this information should be included here. It may be more natural in some languages to reverse the order of the words in this phrase by saying “his father who was the king.” It may also be important to make it clear that Amaziah’s father was no longer considered king. A model that does this is “his father when he was king.”
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 .