Good News Translation adds a paragraph break here, which is helpful. Verses 3 and 4 are a summary of the stories found in Gen 38. Verse 4 lists two additional sons of Judah and states that he had five sons in all. This information is brought forward to the beginning of verse 3 in Good News Translation.
The sons of Judah …: See Gen 38.2-7. Many languages will require a verb in this introductory statement. Good News Translation adds the verb “had.” Other languages will find it more natural to say “Judah fathered the following sons” or “Judah gave birth….”
Er, Onan, and Shelah: Greater detail about Shelah and his descendants is provided in 1 Chr 4.21-23.
These three Bath-shua the Canaanitess bore to him: Translations are rather evenly divided concerning whether the Hebrew for Bath-shua is a woman’s name (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible) or whether it is two words, meaning “the daughter of Shua” (New International Version, Bible en français courant, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Reina-Valera revisada). Gen 38.2 identifies Shua as a Canaanite man. Languages vary as to whether it is more natural to mention the mother of the children before naming the children. The Hebrew, as reflected in Revised Standard Version, lists the children first and then states who their mother was. Good News Translation has reversed this, naming Bath-shua first. Contemporary English Version restructures in a different way by beginning this verse with “Judah and his Canaanite wife Bathshua had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.” Naturalness in the receptor language will be the most important factor in deciding which kind of structure to use.
Now Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD: For firstborn, see the comments on 1 Chr 1.13. LORD renders the Hebrew personal name for God revealed to Moses (see Exo 3.14-15). This name is transliterated “Yahweh” in New Jerusalem Bible and translated “the Eternal” in Moffatt. The American Standard Version of 1901 used the spelling “Jehovah,” but this is based on a mistaken notion about how the divine name was pronounced. The translation “Lord” is used in Revised Standard Version when the Hebrew word ʾadonai is used to refer to God. Er … was wicked in the sight of the LORD is literally “Er was … wicked in the eyes of the LORD.” Some other possible renderings for this clause are “The LORD considered Er … evil” (God’s Word), “he disobeyed and did what the LORD hated” (Contemporary English Version), and “Er … displeased the Lord so much” (Bible en français courant).
He slew him: Revised Standard Version‘s literal rendering here results in possible ambiguity for the pronouns he and him. Some versions avoid this ambiguity by making it clear that the pronoun he refers to “the LORD” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible). Other versions solve this problem by capitalizing the pronoun, saying “He” (New American Standard Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible), but this solution is not recommended since the hearers of the Scriptures will not be able to tell the difference, and the ambiguity will remain. God’s Word translates both of the pronouns with a noun to make the meaning clearer, saying “the LORD killed Er.” It is also possible to translate this clause as a relative clause for clarity; for example, New Jerusalem Bible has “[Yahweh] who put him to death.” Some other ways of translating the verb phrase slew him are “took his life” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “caused him to die” (Bible de Jérusalem, Osty-Trinquet).
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 .