And the LORD heard Hezekiah: The verb heard in this context implies more than merely listening to Hezekiah’s prayer. In some languages it will be important to express heard Hezekiah as “granted the prayer of Hezekiah” (Bible en français courant) or “gave Hezekiah what he asked.”

And healed the people: If this clause is translated literally, it may present some problems in certain languages. The idea is that God forgave the people who had followed improper procedures, so he did not harm them. Some other ways of rendering this clause are “and did not afflict the people” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “and renounced punishing them” (Bible en français courant), “and he protected the people” (Parole de Vie), and “and left the people unharmed” (New Jerusalem Bible).

A possible model that follows Knox for this verse is:

• In answer to this prayer, the LORD forgave his people.

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 .