And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: Instead of the word God (which follows the Hebrew text literally), Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version use the pronoun “he,” because the subject of the previous verse is “the LORD.” Most translations keep the word God; but if there is any danger that readers will think that “the LORD” in the previous verse and God in this verse refer to different beings, it is acceptable to substitute the pronoun as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have done. Another possibility is to repeat “the LORD” here as Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie have done. The Hebrew has no definite article with the word for angel, so a number of versions make it indefinite by saying “an angel” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, El libro del Pueblo de Dios). But some interpreters argue that the context requires a translation such as “his angel” or “the angel” in English since this angel was responsible for the epidemic that had been inflicted on the rest of the land.

But when he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw: The words the LORD saw are an allusion to Gen 22.14, where God is called “the LORD who sees” (Yahweh-jireh). But some languages will require an object for the verb saw. If an object must be supplied, these two clauses may be rearranged by saying “but when the LORD saw what the angel was about to do.”

And he repented of the evil: The Israelites were not afraid to say that God regretted a prior decision (Gen 6.6; 1 Sam 15.10, 35) or that he changed his mind (Exo 32.14; Amos 7.3, 6). Translators should therefore not attempt to weaken the meaning of the Hebrew verb rendered repented. Here it carries the idea of feeling sorry or regretting a course of action taken or about to be taken. While it may present theological problems for some translators to say that God repented of the evil (compare Exo 32.14), it is clearly what the text says and must therefore be translated. Here the death of the people of Israel is seen as an evil that the LORD originally intended but eventually regretted. Some translations that weaken the sense of the Hebrew are “relented concerning the calamity” (New Revised Standard Version), “decided against the calamity” (New American Bible), “and changed his mind about the disaster [which he had threatened]” (American Bible), and “felt sorry about the calamity” (New Jerusalem Bible). Knox says “was moved with pity over their great calamity.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is a little better with “renounced further punishment.”

And he said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now stay your hand”: The Hebrew word rendered It is enough is literally “Many,” but it is sometimes used to express the idea of sufficiency or adequacy. This word provides the reason for the command that follows, but it is at the same time an order to stop. In some languages it will be best translated “Stop!” Now stay your hand is a command to the angel to stop what he was doing (compare the similar expression in Dan 4.35). Once again the word hand is used in the sense of power. Good News Translation, like some other versions, reverses the order of the two elements in the direct quotation so that the command to cease comes first and then the reason is given. This order may be more natural in some other languages. In some languages it will be more appropriate to make this direct quotation indirect by saying “and he told the angel who was killing the people to stop because enough had already died.”

And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered And may be translated “At that moment” (New Living Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nueva Versión Internacional, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). For threshing floor, see the comments on 1 Chr 13.9. Ornan is called “Araunah” in the parallel text of 2 Sam 24. Some versions use the same form of the name here as in 2 Samuel (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). The Jebusites were the original non-Israelite natives of Jerusalem (see 1 Chr 11.4). Bible en français courant and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy render the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite as “the place where the Jebusite Ornan was threshing wheat,” but such a translation fails to indicate that Ornan was the owner of this place. Ornan’s threshing floor was on the hill outside the old city of Jerusalem; it was the place where Solomon later built the Temple (see 1 Chr 22.1; 2 Chr 3.1).

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 .