These were born to him in Jerusalem: While most English versions connect this clause to the remainder of the verse, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version take it as completing the sentence begun in the previous verse. Translators should feel free to restructure this material in whichever way seems most natural in their own language, as long as it is clear that the sons listed in verses 5-8 were born in Jerusalem. The demonstrative pronoun These looks forward to the names that are about to be mentioned rather than backwards to those already listed. It may be translated more specifically as “The following sons.” If it is necessary to avoid the passive construction were born, translators may render this clause as “David’s wives gave birth to the following children in Jerusalem.”
Shime-a, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammi-el: Instead of Shime-a, this son’s name is “Shammua” in 1 Chr 14.4 and 2 Sam 5.14. Some versions harmonize here by using that form of the name (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Luther), because the Hebrew consonants are the same in these two forms of the name.
Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus through David’s son Nathan (see Luke 3.31), but Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy through David’s son Solomon (see Matt 1.6).
Since Solomon was apparently the second son born to David and Bathsheba according to 2 Sam 12.24, it is surprising that he is listed here as the fourth son. Nine sons are listed before Solomon (verses 1-5) and nine after Solomon (verses 6-8). Perhaps the importance of Solomon is emphasized by being placed in the center of the pattern 9 + 1 + 9. But the only way for translators to point out this fact would be through a footnote.
Since Solomon is the only son of Bathsheba mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, some scholars have suggested that and Solomon, four by Bath-shua be corrected to read “and Solomon, the fourth, by Bathsheba”; that is, Bathsheba would be named as the mother of the fourth son listed but not of the first three. But there is no textual evidence for such a suggestion.
Instead of Bath-shua, one Hebrew manuscript and the Vulgate read “Bathsheba” here, but other Hebrew manuscripts have Bath-shua. She first appears in 2 Sam 11.3, where she is called “Bathsheba.” Many versions harmonize the spelling here with the better known form of the name in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Menge gives both names as follows: “Bath-shua (= Bathsheba).” Good News Translation restructures this verse by placing Bathsheba’s name before the names of her four sons in order to make it clear at the outset that she was their mother (so also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje).
According to 2 Sam 11.3, Bathsheba was “the daughter of Eliam,” not the daughter of Ammiel. Apparently the name Ammiel arose by scribal error when the two parts of the name “Eliam” were reversed. Following the ancient Greek and Latin texts, Luther here corrects the text to read “the daughter of Eliam.” However, few other modern versions do so, and it may be better to deal with this problem in a footnote rather than following the other ancient texts instead of the Hebrew.
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 .