And David said to all the assembly of Israel: The Hebrew text repeats the name of David here, but a number of modern versions, including the usually more literal Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, have only the pronoun “he” since the name David is used in the previous verse. Translators may use whichever form is more natural in the receptor language. Moffatt translates all the assembly of Israel more specifically as “the war-council of Israel,” apparently since the military leaders form such an important part of the assembly. But here the meaning is probably more general, referring to all the people of Israel, as in Lev 16.17 and Deut 31.30.
If it seems good to you, and if it is the will of the LORD our God is literally “If to you [it is] good and from Yahweh our God, let us break through [or, spread].” The meaning of the Hebrew text here is not at all clear. Among the various translation options are the following:
• (1) Attempt to translate the Masoretic Text. Revised English Bible is one of the few versions that tries to translate the Hebrew verb parats with its usual meaning of “to break through/open” or “to spread,” saying “If you approve, and if the LORD our God opens a way,” but it is really doubtful that the Hebrew should be read in this way. Probably the verb parats should be taken with the following verb send and be understood to mean “let us spread and send” in the sense of “let us send abroad.” The Hebrew verb parats occurs sometimes in the sense of people spreading in all directions (see, for example, Gen 28.14). So the renderings found here in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation probably give the intended meaning.
• (2) Leave the difficult Hebrew verb untranslated. Braun uses an ellipsis, saying “If it seems good to you, and if it is … from Yahweh our God.”
• (3) Change the Hebrew text. Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and many other versions make a slight change in the Hebrew verb parats, changing it to the verb ratsah (“to take pleasure in”).
The pronoun our in the phrase our God includes both David and his listeners.
Let us send abroad to our brethren: In Hebrew the verb rendered send does not have a stated object, but the implied object is “messengers” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant) or “messages” (New Living Translation). In English the expression “send word” (New International Version) is also acceptable in this context. Our brethren refers to the relatives of those Israelites who had joined David. Some other possible translations are “our fellow Israelites” (New Century Version), “our remaining kinsmen” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “the rest of our people” (Good News Translation).
Who remain in all the land of Israel: All the land of Israel is literally “all the lands of Israel,” referring to the various parts of the country (compare 2 Chr 11.23; 15.5). Ways of translating the sense include “all the regions of the land” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “all the regions of Israel” (La Bible du Semeur, El libro del Pueblo de Dios), and “the various regions of the land of Israel” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).
Bible en français courant and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente translate and with them to the priests and Levites as “especially to the priests and Levites.”
In the cities that have pasture lands: According to Num 35.1-5, pasture lands of a definite size were to be given to the Levites where they could raise livestock. See also 1 Chr 6.54-81. Good News Translation says simply “in their towns,” but the sense of the Hebrew is better expressed as “in the villages and neighboring regions where they live” (Bible en français courant).
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 .