And when he taunted Israel: The Hebrew verb translated taunted has a wide variety of meanings, but the basic sense is that of “stripping away.” In the present context it means “derided” or “mocked.” Contemporary English Version uses the English idiom “made fun of.” It may also be rendered “defied” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond) or “insulted” (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). The text does not indicate the content of the taunt, but probably the giant was saying that the God of Israel could not protect them. Translators will probably need to render the name Israel in such a way as to ensure that there is no doubt in the readers’ minds that this refers to “the army of Israel” or “the people of Israel.” If it is translated literally, some readers may think that a single individual is intended.

Jonathan the son of Shime-a, David’s brother, slew him: The name Shime-a is given as “Shimei” in the parallel passage of 2 Sam 21.21. But both of these names are variants of the name “Shammah,” which appears elsewhere as the name of David’s brother (1 Sam 16.9; 17.13). Therefore translators are advised to use the form “Shammah” here, as Good News Translation and Bible en français courant have done. Contemporary English Version renders Jonathan the son of Shime-a, David’s brother simply as “David’s nephew Jonathan,” which may be helpful for other languages. In any case, it must be clear that David’s brother is Shime-a and that Jonathan is David’s nephew.

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 .