The families also of the scribes that dwelt at Jabez …: This verse begins in Hebrew with the common conjunction, which seems to link this verse with the previous one as a continuation of the descendants of Salma. The word also in Revised Standard Version expresses this continuation. Good News Translation, however, places this verse within parentheses since the peoples listed here do not seem to have any connection to the descendants of Caleb. Moreover, they are called Kenites, that is, descendants of Cain. Earlier texts in Genesis, Judges, and 1 Samuel refer to the Kenites as non-Israelites. The Kenites are mentioned, for example, in Gen 15.19 as being among those people whose land the LORD would give to the descendants of Abraham (see also Jdg 4.11). But for the author of 1 Chronicles, these people were apparently considered as part of the tribe of Judah.

As in verse 53, the word families is better rendered “clans” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “family groups.”

The Hebrew word rendered scribes is sopherim. However, it may be read as a name and transliterated; for example, New American Bible begins this verse with “The clans of the Sopherim,” and Revised English Bible has “The clans of Sophrites” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Osty-Trinquet). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reads “These clans had come from Sopher.” If the word sopherim is understood to mean “scribes,” then it may be helpful in the receptor language to translate this word by making the function clear. Good News Translation, for example, says that they were “experts in writing and copying documents.” Apparently the scribal profession was passed down from father to son. Some cities in the ancient Near East were well-known centers of scribal learning, and it is possible that Jabez was such a city.

The Tirathites, the Shime-athites, and the Sucathites are sometimes thought to be clans that performed some religious functions, as did the clans of the scribes, but nothing is really known of these people. They were from the Kenite people.

These are the Kenites who came from Hammath: The meaning of Hammath is not clear. It may be a place name. But the only other place called Hammath in the Old Testament was located in the territory of Naphtali (see Josh 19.35), in the heartland of Galilee, not in the territory of Judah. Others take the Hebrew word for Hammath not as a place name but as a word that comes from the root words for “father-in-law” and “mother-in-law,” with the meaning “family-in-law.” This interpretation is the basis for the Good News Translation rendering “who had intermarried with” (similarly Revised English Bible). Most translations take Hammath as the name of a man, and this seems to be the most likely interpretation.

The father of the house of Rechab: The Hebrew word for house is beth. It is not clear in this context whether this word is part of a place name, “Beth-rechab,” or whether it means “house” and refers to a tribal group. Some translations treat this word as part of a place name; for example, Braun renders this whole phrase as “the father of Beth-rechab,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “the ancestor of Beth-Rechab.” Others take it as a reference to “the Rechabites” (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant), who observed certain vows and believed that the only correct way to worship God was by living as nomads (see Jer 35.6-10).

Recognizing the many difficulties in interpreting this verse, we recommend the following model:

• And the clans of the scribes who lived in the town of Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These were the Kenites who descended from Hammath, the founder of the city of Beth-Rechab.

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 .