And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered And introduces another brave deed performed by Benaiah. Translators should use whatever transition word naturally fits in the context of a series of events. The Hebrew verb rendered slew here is different from the verb translated slew at the end of this verse. The two verbs are synonyms, both meaning “killed” in modern English, and it is not necessary to translate them by different words in the receptor language. A cubit is about 45 centimeters or 18 inches. It is based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger of an adult male. In modern terms five cubits is equivalent to “[about] seven and a half feet” (Good News Translation, International Children’s Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible, American Bible) or “about two and a half meters” (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver’s beam: In Old Testament times, when a person was weaving cloth, a set of threads would be tied to a large wooden stick while another set of threads would be woven between them. This large stick was known as the weaver’s beam. The point of comparison between the spear and weaver’s beam is that both were big. A spear like a weaver’s beam may be rendered “a spear that was like the large stick used in weaving cloth.” Compare also “a spear as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom” ( NET Bible). Good News Translation omits the simile like a weaver’s beam, and says simply “a gigantic spear.” But it is better to keep the simile. NET Bible provides a helpful model here.

But Benaiah went down to him with a staff: The idea of downward movement conveyed by the Revised Standard Version rendering may be misleading. It will be more appropriate to render went down to as “went against” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version), “came against” (New American Bible), or simply “attacked” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew word for staff probably refers to nothing more than a heavy stick. The word “club” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) correctly expresses the meaning.

And snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear: It is important to be sure that the pronoun references in this verse are clear to the ordinary reader. Translators will do well to test the understanding by asking questions of such readers after they become acquainted with the translation. In this last part of the verse it is especially important to make clear that it was Benaiah who killed the Egyptian with the Egyptian’s own spear.

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 .