And they departed. When David was told concerning the men: Revised Standard Version understands the pronoun they as referring to the men whose beards and clothing had been cut off. They left from the land of the Ammonites. But the Hebrew text may be referring to different men. The beginning of this verse in the Masoretic Text is literally “And they went and they told David concerning the men.” This may be translated “Then certain persons went and they told David about the men.” If translators follow Revised Standard Version here, the passive clause When David was told … may be easily transformed to an active one by saying “When David heard…” or “When someone told David….”

He sent to meet them: Many languages will require an object for the verb sent, such as “messengers” (New Century Version, Bible en français courant), “some people” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée), “someone” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or “a message.”

For the men were greatly ashamed: Good News Translation places this clause at the beginning of the verse. This restructuring provides a logical chronological order and may be a good model for certain other languages.

Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return: Jericho was on the return route from Rabbah to Jerusalem. By the time the messengers had reached Jericho, they had already made most of the return trip home. It may be helpful to render Jericho as “the city of Jericho” (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). It may also be helpful to make it explicit that Jerusalem is the final destination by rendering then return as “then complete your return to Jerusalem.” Another way of communicating this idea may be to say “Then come home” (New Century Version) or “then come back here” (Parole de Vie; similarly Bible en français courant). Good News Translation reorders this quote and uses indirect discourse, which some languages may find helpful.

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 .