The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon: As in previous verses, Good News Translation states explicitly the number of sons here and in the next sentence. The name Tilon is the corrected reading in the margin of the Masoretic Text, and this spelling is also found in several ancient versions, but the Masoretic Text actually has “Tolon.” The name is not found elsewhere in the Bible in either form.

The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth: Nothing more is known of Zoheth. The name Ben-zoheth means “son of Zoheth.” Since one of Ishi’s sons is named Zoheth, it is strange that his other son is named Ben-zoheth. There are several ways of understanding this whole sentence in the Masoretic Text:

• (1) Sons may mean “descendants,” and Ben-zoheth is not to be taken as a person’s name but rather Ben-zoheth means “son of Zoheth.” Some versions follow this interpretation. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, for example, says “Descendants of Ishi: Zoheth and his son.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch similarly reads “The son of Ishi was Zoheth. This man also had a son.”

• (2) Ben-zoheth is the name of one of Ishi’s two sons (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Reina-Valera revisada).

• (3) The Masoretic Text has an error. Some interpreters think that Ben-zoheth means “son of Zoheth” and that a name has accidentally dropped out of the Hebrew text before the words “son of Zoheth.” Moffatt, for example, translates “Zoheth was the son of Ishi, and … the son of Zoheth.” New American Bible similarly ends this verse with four dots, indicating that something is missing: “The son of Ishi was Zoheth and the son of Zoheth….” Such corrections may in fact be right, but since there is no basis for these corrections in the ancient manuscripts, the reading of the Masoretic Text should be followed here, either as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation or as in Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente.

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 .