I will take you: God had already chosen Jeroboam. The essence of what he says here is that Jeroboam would now be placed in the position of leadership for which he had been selected. Revised English Bible says “I shall appoint you.” The second person singular pronoun, you, is given a prominent place in Hebrew for the sake of emphasis. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible attempts to reflect this by translating “You yourself, I will take you.” Similarly, Bible en français courant says “With regard to you, Jeroboam, I will….” Revised Standard Version gives a literal translation of the Hebrew verb for take, but such a literal rendering is not idiomatic English. God is not going to take Jeroboam anywhere. The Hebrew verb is used here in the sense of “take [you] on [as king].”

Good News Translation reintroduces the name “Jeroboam” here in order to remind the reader to whom God is speaking (also Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie).

You shall reign over all that your soul desires: Nearly all translations understand this part of the verse to be saying that Jeroboam may rule over as much territory as he desires, and this seems to be the most natural reading of the Hebrew. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, however, translates this “reign wherever you wish” and says in a footnote that it means “establish your residence [wherever you wish].” The same expression occurs in 2 Sam 3.21 in Abner’s words to David. Regarding the meaning of the Hebrew noun rendered soul, see the comments on 1 Kgs 1.29. In 2 Sam 3.21 Revised Standard Version translates this same Hebrew noun as “heart.”

You shall be king over Israel: In this context Israel refers to the northern kingdom only and not to the united kingdom over which David and Solomon had reigned. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “You shall be king over the ten tribes of Israel” (similarly Bible en français courant). If the text is translated literally here, then it may be helpful to have a footnote such as that in Parole de Vie, which says “This refers here to the ten tribes of the North.”

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 .