And from the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its pasture lands, Alemeth with its pasture lands, and Anathoth with its pasture lands: As in the previous three verses, Good News Translation again restructures here in order to avoid repeating the phrase with its pasture lands. It also has a separate sentence here rather than continuing the long sentence from the previous verse.

The parallel list in Josh 21.17 has the words “Gibeon with its pasture lands” before Geba. Some translations add the words “Gibeon with its pasture lands” here after the name Benjamin (so New Living Translation, New American Bible, Braun, Knoppers, and Einheitsübersetzung, which places the addition within parentheses). Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia suggests that the words “Gibeon with its pasture lands” should be added here. It is possible that the original author of 1 Chronicles or a later scribe accidentally omitted those words here, but since neither the Hebrew text nor the ancient versions include them, most translations rightly do not include them.

It is uncertain whether Geba is another name for the town of Gibeah or whether the two names refer to two separate locations. Since 1838 Geba has been located by archaeologists as a site about 9 kilometers (about 5.5 miles) northeast of Jerusalem, directly opposite Michmash on the other side of the pass of Michmash. Since about 1930 most archaeologists have located the city of Gibeah at a site only 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of Jerusalem. More recent studies, however, suggest that Geba and Gibeah are different names for the same town. Possibly “Gibeah” was the older Israelite name, while Geba was the name used in Judah.

Alemeth is a variant spelling of the name “Almon” (New American Bible), which is the name used in the parallel text of Josh 21.18. Alemeth was a city about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin. Alemeth is also the name of two different individuals in 1 Chr 7.8 and 8.36.

Anathoth is well known as the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah (1.1).

All their cities throughout their families were thirteen: The number thirteen represents the total number of towns that were assigned to the priests in territories of Judah and Benjamin. The list in verses 57-60 gives the names of only eleven towns. The parallel list in Josh 21.13-19 also mentions Juttah and Gibeon. As noted above, several modern versions add these two towns in verses 59-60 on the assumption that the Masoretic Text originally contained them. But since strong manuscript evidence for this addition is lacking, this information should be placed in a footnote rather than in the text itself.

Verses 64-65 seem to fit better following verse 60; and, in fact, some interpreters think that these two verses originally followed verse 60 in the Masoretic Text. New American Bible places verses 64-65 after verse 60.

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 .