And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: These words introduce what follows in verses 27b-40. If translators follow the form of the Hebrew, they should be sure that the pronoun he clearly refers to Jeroboam. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates the first half of this verse as follows: “The circumstances under which he raised his hand against the king were as follows.” Some common language translations rephrase it and say simply “This is the story of the revolt” (Good News Translation; similarly Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, New Living Translation) or “Here is how it happened” (Contemporary English Version). For the expression lifted up his hand, see the comments on the previous verse.

Millo: See the comments on 1 Kgs 9.15.

Closed up the breach of the city of David means Solomon was repairing the walls around Jerusalem (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Both New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible supply the words “in the wall” after the Hebrew noun rendered breach. New Revised Standard Version says “closed up the gap in the wall of the city….” This information should probably be made explicit in other languages also.

For the city of David, see 1 Kgs 2.10 and 8.1.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .