Depart for three days, then come again to me: The grammar of these words is difficult. The punctuation in the Masoretic Text requires the following rendering: “Depart again for three days, then come/return to me.” But since nothing has been said about the people having previously departed, the words “depart again” make little sense in this context. Revised Standard Version solves the difficulty by punctuating the text differently and connecting the adverb again with the verb come instead of with the verb Depart. Another solution to the difficulty is to change the vowel in the Hebrew adverb for “again” (ʿod) so that this word becomes “until” (ʿad), which is the reading of the ancient versions. The Septuagint reads “Depart until [the end of] three days, and return to me.”

The solution that seems best is to take the adverb in the Masoretic Text as an expression of duration. Compare De Vries: “Depart for yet three days, and then return to me.” The text does not state here why Rehoboam needed three days, but the sense is clearly “Give me three days to think this over. Then come back for my answer” (New Living Translation; similarly Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie).

In languages where indirect discourse is preferred, translators may consider rendering the direct quotation indirectly by saying something like “He told them to go away for three days and then come back for his answer.”

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 .