Elkanah his son: Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation follows the Masoretic Text here, which reads “Elkanah his son Elkanah.” The reading in the margin of the Masoretic Text says “Elkanah the sons of Elkanah.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the Masoretic Text contains an error and that it is impossible for scholars to reconstruct with any certainty the original text. So Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the first occurrence of the name Elkanah in this verse should be connected to the previous verse and that his son should be changed to read “sons of.” According to this interpretation, verses 25-26 should read “The sons of Elkanah: Amasai, Ahimoth, and Elkanah. The sons of Elkanah: Zophai….” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives only a {C} rating to the corrected text.

The Revised Standard Version rendering Elkanah his son is based on a correction of the Masoretic Text, and it may well be what the text originally said; that is, Elkanah was a son of Ahimoth, whose father was also named Elkanah. Good News Translation follows the same interpretation by beginning with “These are Ahimoth’s descendants from generation to generation: Elkanah….” As in verses 4-15 and 20-24, Good News Translation restructures verses 26-27 to avoid repeating the words his son.

New American Standard Bible tries to make sense of the Masoretic Text by rendering this verse as “As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah were Zophai his son and Nahath his son” (similarly King James Version). However, this translation makes little sense, since it lists different sons for Elkanah from those listed in the previous verse.

In verse 35 Zophai is called “Zuph” in the margin of the Masoretic Text and “Ziph” in the text of the Masoretic Text. Klein follows the Septuagint here, saying “Zuphai.”

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 .