The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites is literally “The sons of Salma Bethlehem and Netophathites Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites the Zorites.”

Salma was named in verse 51 as the second son of Hur.

Probably the Hebrew word for “father” was accidentally omitted before the word Bethlehem. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente begins this verse with “From Salma descended the population of Bethlehem…” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Another possibility would be to translate Bethlehem as “the inhabitants of Bethlehem” (La Bible du Semeur) or “the people of Bethlehem” (Bible en français courant).

Two of David’s mighty men were from the town of “Netophah” (see 1 Chr 11.30), which was located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) southeast of Bethlehem.

The Hebrew name Atroth-beth-joab means “crown of the house of Joab.” Nothing more is known of this town.

Many translations take the Zorites to be in apposition to half of the Manahathites. This is the basis for the Good News Translation rendering “the Zorites, who were one of the two clans in Manahath.” Others, on the other hand, take these two groups as distinct and separate; for example, Einheitsübersetzung and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente say “[the] half of the Manahathites and the Zorites.”

Since Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch corrected the last part of verse 52 to read “the half of the inhabitants of Manahath,” it translates the end of this verse as “the other half of the inhabitants of Manahath, who came from Zorah.” It is possible that the Hebrew words for Zorites and “Zorathites” (verse 53) refer to the same people.

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 .