Where they found is literally “and they found.” As indicated in the discussion on the previous verse, it will be better in most languages to begin a new sentence here.

Rich, good pasture is literally “pasture fat and good” (similarly King James Version, American Standard Version). In this context the word “fat” speaks of pasture land that is rich and fertile. New Living Translation translates “lush pastures.” New Century Version has “good pastures with plenty of grass.”

And the land was very broad, quiet, and peaceful: The Hebrew phrase rendered very broad is an idiomatic expression that is literally “wide as [two] hands.” Most French versions translate it “vast,” while New International Version uses the word “spacious” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “ample.” Revised English Bible expresses the first half of this verse well by saying “They found rich and good pasture in a wide stretch of open country where everything was quiet and peaceful” (similarly Good News Translation).

For the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham: The connector for translates a Hebrew particle that often introduces a cause. But in this context it is difficult to understand why the land was quiet and peaceful because the Hamites had lived there. Some interpreters suggest that perhaps some words have accidentally been omitted from the text. Many translations simply do not translate this word, therefore making no direct causal connection between what is stated in the two parts of this verse (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

The former inhabitants there belonged to Ham may mean that the Hamites had lived there prior to the arrival of the families of the tribe of Simeon, but that they had already moved elsewhere by the time that these Israelites arrived. Or this statement may be from the point of view of the writer who is looking back and stating that from his point of view, the Hamites, that is, the Canaanites, were the former inhabitants of the land and were there when the tribe of Simeon arrived. The following verses clearly show that the second interpretation is correct. Belonged to Ham is literally “from Ham”; that is, they were descendants of Ham. Since some readers will not know who Ham was, it may be helpful to say that the former inhabitants “were descendants of Noah’s son Ham” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The last half of this verse may be rendered as a separate sentence by saying “Before they arrived, there were some of the descendants of Ham living there.”

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 .