Azel had six sons … Azrikam, Bocheru …: The Septuagint reads “his firstborn” instead of Bocheru, and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia recommends that the Septuagint be followed here. The consonants in Hebrew (bkrw) are the same for the name Bocheru and for the Hebrew word meaning “his firstborn.” With the vowels in the Masoretic Text, the Hebrew word is the proper name Bocheru. In support of the Septuagint reading is the fact that in the Masoretic Text the last four names are preceded by the conjunction “and” but the name Bocheru is not. If bkrw were a name, we would expect the Masoretic Text to say “and Bocheru.” New Jerusalem Bible follows the Septuagint for this verse as follows: “Azel had six sons, whose names were these: Azrikam, his first born, then Ishmael, Sheariah Obadiah, Hanan. All these were sons of Azel” (similarly Osty-Trinquet). According to this translation, the name of one of Azel’s six sons has dropped out of the list. The original text may have read “his firstborn,” and contained six names. Then once a name was accidentally omitted, a scribe changed “his firstborn” to read Bocheru in order to have six names again.

Some translations read “his firstborn” instead of Bocheru and then add the name “Azariah” before the name Obadiah on the basis of some Septuagint manuscripts (so New American Bible, Klein, Knoppers). Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia recommends that the name “Azariah” should be read in place of the name Sheariah.

In order to bring the total number of Azel’s sons to six, many modern versions interpret the questionable Hebrew word as a proper name like Bocheru (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, An American Translation, Moffatt) rather than a word meaning “his firstborn.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {D} rating to the Masoretic Text, but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the Masoretic Text probably originally had the name “Becher” or “Bichri,” which are typical Benjaminite names, and then under the influence of the Hebrew word for “his first-born” in verse 39, a scribe changed the consonants in verse 38. Then when vowels were added, the name was still written as a name, that is, Bocheru.

Six different persons in the Old Testament have the name Ishmael. Two other men with this same name are mentioned in 2 Chr 19.11 and 23.1. But this is clearly not a reference to the first Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar mentioned in Gen 16.

Hanan is the name of nine different men in the Old Testament. Hanan, the son of Shashak, was mentioned in verse 23; and another Hanan is mentioned in 1 Chr 11.43.

All these were the sons of Azel: Good News Translation omits this repetitive sentence for naturalness in English. Other languages may find this helpful.

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 .