And the king commanded …: This verse contains a formal listing of the people to whom the king gave the orders about consulting Yahweh. Hilkiah and Shaphan have already been mentioned, but this is the first mention of Ahikam (Jer 26.34; 39.14), Abdon (who is called “Achbor” in 2 Kgs 22.12, 14 and in Jer 26.22; 36.12), and Asaiah. Ahikam and Abdon are identified only in terms of their fathers’ names. Nothing is said of their occupations. These two prominent individuals are probably the same as those mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. Some modern versions change Abdon to “Achbor” to harmonize the spelling with that in the parallel passage of 2 Kgs 22 (so New Living Translation, An American Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Luther). But translators should not harmonize the names in this case since it is not a matter of two forms of the same name.

Asaiah is said to be the king’s servant, which probably refers to the special steward of the king who looked after his personal needs. The term servant has been rendered “attendant” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), “minister” (New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “official” (Moffatt).

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 .