So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria: The connector So translates the common Hebrew conjunction. This connector is appropriate in the present context since what is described in verse 26 is a direct result of the unfaithfulness depicted in the previous verse. Most other English versions use the same connector or a similar one, such as “Therefore” (New American Bible).
Revised Standard Version preserves the form of the Hebrew by saying the God of Israel. Good News Translation omits of Israel but without any obvious reason. Even if these words would be understood by the reader, the writer may well have included them for emphasis, and this emphasis should be preserved.
The Hebrew expression rendered stirred up the spirit is found elsewhere in the Old Testament (see, for example, 2 Chr 21.16; 36.22; Ezra 1.1; Jer 51.11; Hag 1.14). It is often used when the person involved is not an Israelite (for example, King Cyrus of Persia). The verb here is a causative form in Hebrew and may often be translated in other languages by a causative verb, such as “caused Pul … to attack” or “made Pul … want to go to war” (New Century Version).
The Assyrian ruler referred to here as Pul is better known as Tiglath Pileser. The name Pul is found elsewhere in the Old Testament only in 2 Kgs 15.19. The name Pul is an abbreviated form of the name Pulu, by which this Assyrian ruler is sometimes known in cuneiform records.
The spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria: For the name Tilgath-pilneser, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.6. This name is in apposition with Pul, as Good News Translation indicates with the parenthetical comment “also known as Tiglath Pileser.” Compare “King Pul of Assyria, that is King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria” (Revised English Bible; similarly New Jerusalem Bible). Some interpreters, however, think that the author misunderstood his sources and considered these to be two different kings. The Hebrew for the beginning of this verse may indeed be translated as follows: “Therefore the God of Israel incited against them the anger of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria” (New American Bible; similarly Reina-Valera revisada). But the following verbs in Hebrew are both singular (carried away and brought), so it is most likely that the author intended the two names to refer to one king only.
The form Tilgath-pilneser is also found in 2 Chr 28.20, and the form “Tiglath-pileser” is found in 2 Kgs 15.29 and 16.7, 10. Three Assyrian rulers had the name Tiglath Pileser. The reference here is to Tiglath Pileser III, who ruled 744–727 B.C.; but since the other two rulers by this name are not mentioned in the Old Testament, there is no danger of readers confusing the different rulers with one another. Therefore it is not necessary to identify him as Tiglath Pileser III.
And he carried them away, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh: Most versions take the pronoun he as referring to the Assyrian king, but some take it as referring to God. New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible clearly imply in English that the subject here is Tiglath Pileser by beginning this clause with “who deported….” For the half-tribe of Manasseh, see the comments on verse 18. Good News Translation renders this whole clause helpfully as “He deported the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.”
And brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan: Classifier terms should almost certainly be added to the proper names here. All these places were located east and north of the Assyrian capital Nineveh, far from the land of Israel. Halah most likely refers to Halahhu, the name of both a town and a district northeast of Nineveh. The precise location of Halah is uncertain.
Habor was a river that flowed into the larger Euphrates River. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “the river Habor.”
Hara was apparently either a district or a city. This name is omitted in the Septuagint, and the parallel passages in 2 Kgs 17.6 and 18.11 do not have it in the Masoretic Text. Because the Hebrew name Hara is similar in spelling to the Hebrew words for “cities” ( Masoretic Text) or “mountains” (Septuagint) in 2 Kgs 17.6 and 18.11, some scholars think that Hara was not really a place but the result of an error in copying the text. Early editions of Jerusalem Bible omitted Hara, but New Jerusalem Bible includes it. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives a {D} rating to the Masoretic Text, but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even discuss this problem.
Along with both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, most modern translations say that Gozan is a river. However, the Hebrew expression rendered the river Gozan should be understood to mean “the river of Gozan” (New Jerusalem Bible) since Gozan, in northern Mesopotamia, has been identified with the modern-day city Tell Halaf on the border of Turkey and Syria. Others consider Gozan to be a region or territory in northern Mesopotamia. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reads “the valley of Gozan.”
To this day means that the situation was still the same at the time the author was writing (see the comments on 1 Chr 4.41). Good News Translation expresses this sense with the word “permanently.”
The chapter division in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation does not follow the Masoretic Text from this point until the beginning of chapter 7. The Masoretic Text has 41 verses in chapter 5. Translations in other languages such as Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente and Peregrino follow the numbering of the Hebrew text, so they continue with fifteen more verses in chapter 5. The same is done by the Roman Catholic translations New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible in English. These last fifteen verses become verses 1-15 of chapter 6 in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other English versions.
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 .