Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:13

As in previous verses, Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente indicate at the beginning of the list the total number of sons, which are “seven” here. These two versions also restructure verses 13-15 by indicating that the names of the sons that follow are in order of birth. This makes it unnecessary to specify the numerals as more literal translations do.

Jesse was the father of Eliab his first-born, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third: Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea are listed as Jesse’s sons in 1 Sam 16.6-9. There Shimea is called “Shammah,” so Good News Translation harmonizes the spelling here. Other versions that handle the problem similarly are Bible en français courant (“Chamma” in both places) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“Schima” in both cases). If the spellings are not harmonized in this way, it will be essential to provide a footnote stating that the two names refer to the same person. The Septuagint has “Aminadab” instead of Abinadab.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:14

Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth: Jesse’s sons Nethanel, Raddai, and Ozem are not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. 1 Sam 16 names only his first three sons and his youngest one, although four others are alluded to.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:15

David the seventh: David is number thirty-three in the line of descendants that began with Adam in 1 Chr 1.1. According to 1 Sam 16.10-11 and 17.12, Jesse had eight sons, and David was the eighth. It is not clear why David is listed as the seventh here, although the number “seven” may have had symbolic meaning, since this number often signifies completion in the Bible. The number of generations from Ram to Jesse is also seven, which may be a similar literary technique.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:16

And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail: The pronoun their refers back to the seven sons of Jesse. Good News Translation puts the focus back on Jesse himself by translating this clause as “He also had two daughters, Zeruiah and Abigail” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation places even more focus on Jesse by adding “Jesse’s daughter” when speaking of the sons of Zeruiah. If a literal translation of the Hebrew is clear in the receptor language, there seems to be no reason to change the focus as Good News Translation has done.

The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three: Zeruiah’s three sons played important roles as military leaders during the reign of David (see especially 1 Chr 11.26 and 18.12, as well as 2 Sam 2–3).

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:17

Abigail bore Amasa: Since the previous verse indicates that Zeruiah and Abigail were sisters, Good News Translation adds the words “His other daughter” in order to help the reader keep clear the identity of Abigail, but also to retain the focus on Jesse. Like his cousins Abishai, Joab and Asahel, Amasa was a commander of David’s army (see 2 Sam 19.13).

And the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite: The Hebrew does not actually state that Abigail and Jether married, but Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente restructure the verse and make this explicit. This restructuring may state more than the Hebrew intends, although 2 Sam 17.25 seems to indicate that they were married. A better model for this verse is “Abigail had a son, Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite” (Bible en français courant).

According to 2 Sam 17.25, the name of Amasa’s father was “Ithra” instead of Jether. Furthermore, the Masoretic Text of 2 Sam 17.25 says that Ithra was an Israelite rather than an Ishmaelite. Scholars have suggested several ways to explain these differences between 2 Samuel and this verse in 1 Chronicles. Regardless of how the differences may be explained, translators should follow the Masoretic Text here in verse 17.

The definite article in the phrase the Ishmaelite may be misleading, but it is probably used to refer to a person well known to the Israelite readers as having his origin outside their group. It is probably better in most languages to translate “an Ishmaelite” (New Living Translation, New Century Version) or “a descendant of Ishmael” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual provides a possible model for the format of verses 13-17 as follows:

• Jesse had seven sons:
Eliab,
Aminadab,
Shimea,
Nethanel,
Raddai,
Ozem,
David.

Jesse also had two daughters:
Zeruiah,
Abigail.

Zeruiah had three sons:
Abishai,
Joab,
Asahel.

Abigail married Jether the Ishmaelite, and had a son, Amasa.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:19

When Azubah died is literally “And Azubah died.” This should not be understood to mean that Caleb’s new marriage took place immediately following the death of Azubah. Rather, it occurred at some point “After the death of Azubah” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). In some languages it may be more natural to translate “Azubah died. And later….”

Caleb married Ephrath: Married is literally “took for himself” (simply “took” in Nouvelle Bible Segond and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but the meaning is clearly “took as his wife.” So married is considered by many translations to be the most natural equivalent (for example, New Century Version, English Standard Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible). If verse 24 is understood to mean that Caleb’s father Hezron was married to Ephrath, then Caleb married his father’s widow or another woman by the same name.

Who bore him Hur: Hur, who is mentioned in Exo 31.2, was a son, not a daughter, so this may be made explicit here (so Good News Translation, New Century Version). Adding the words “a son” also avoids the possible confusion to the hearer in English since the pronoun “her” and the proper name “Hur” are pronounced the same.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:20

Hur was the father of Uri: Like his father Hur, Uri is also mentioned in the book of Exodus (31.2; 35.30; 38.22).

And Uri was the father of Bezalel: Bezalel was the skilled worker who made the sacred Tent and its contents in the wilderness (Exo 31.1-11). The Tent was the model for much of the Temple worship.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:3

Good News Translation adds a paragraph break here, which is helpful. Verses 3 and 4 are a summary of the stories found in Gen 38. Verse 4 lists two additional sons of Judah and states that he had five sons in all. This information is brought forward to the beginning of verse 3 in Good News Translation.

The sons of Judah …: See Gen 38.2-7. Many languages will require a verb in this introductory statement. Good News Translation adds the verb “had.” Other languages will find it more natural to say “Judah fathered the following sons” or “Judah gave birth….”

Er, Onan, and Shelah: Greater detail about Shelah and his descendants is provided in 1 Chr 4.21-23.

These three Bath-shua the Canaanitess bore to him: Translations are rather evenly divided concerning whether the Hebrew for Bath-shua is a woman’s name (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible) or whether it is two words, meaning “the daughter of Shua” (New International Version, Bible en français courant, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Reina-Valera revisada). Gen 38.2 identifies Shua as a Canaanite man. Languages vary as to whether it is more natural to mention the mother of the children before naming the children. The Hebrew, as reflected in Revised Standard Version, lists the children first and then states who their mother was. Good News Translation has reversed this, naming Bath-shua first. Contemporary English Version restructures in a different way by beginning this verse with “Judah and his Canaanite wife Bathshua had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.” Naturalness in the receptor language will be the most important factor in deciding which kind of structure to use.

Now Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD: For firstborn, see the comments on 1 Chr 1.13. LORD renders the Hebrew personal name for God revealed to Moses (see Exo 3.14-15). This name is transliterated “Yahweh” in New Jerusalem Bible and translated “the Eternal” in Moffatt. The American Standard Version of 1901 used the spelling “Jehovah,” but this is based on a mistaken notion about how the divine name was pronounced. The translation “Lord” is used in Revised Standard Version when the Hebrew word ʾadonai is used to refer to God. Er … was wicked in the sight of the LORD is literally “Er was … wicked in the eyes of the LORD.” Some other possible renderings for this clause are “The LORD considered Er … evil” (God’s Word), “he disobeyed and did what the LORD hated” (Contemporary English Version), and “Er … displeased the Lord so much” (Bible en français courant).

He slew him: Revised Standard Version‘s literal rendering here results in possible ambiguity for the pronouns he and him. Some versions avoid this ambiguity by making it clear that the pronoun he refers to “the LORD” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible). Other versions solve this problem by capitalizing the pronoun, saying “He” (New American Standard Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible), but this solution is not recommended since the hearers of the Scriptures will not be able to tell the difference, and the ambiguity will remain. God’s Word translates both of the pronouns with a noun to make the meaning clearer, saying “the LORD killed Er.” It is also possible to translate this clause as a relative clause for clarity; for example, New Jerusalem Bible has “[Yahweh] who put him to death.” Some other ways of translating the verb phrase slew him are “took his life” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “caused him to die” (Bible de Jérusalem, Osty-Trinquet).

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 .