The LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming…”: Even though Ahijah was blind, or nearly blind, he was able to recognize who Jeroboam’s wife was because God had revealed to him that she was coming. Notice that Revised Standard Version uses the simple past tense said, which may suggest that God spoke to Ahijah at the very moment that Jeroboam’s wife arrived, while Good News Translation uses the pluperfect “had told.” Hebrew grammar allows either translation, and many interpreters think that the context favors the view found in Good News Translation (also Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet). However, as in 1 Kgs 13.1, the Hebrew particle rendered Behold is followed by a participle (is coming in this context); and this seems to favor the interpretation in Revised Standard Version.

Thus and thus shall you say to her: See the comments on the words “thus and so” in 1 Kgs 1.6. The Hebrew is not the same as in 1.6, but here, as there, the Hebrew words are a kind of summary statement that may be considered as a type of “pseudo-quotation.” The words Thus and thus are certainly not to be understood as the actual words that the LORD spoke to Ahijah. For dramatic effect the writer does not give the actual words until Ahijah speaks to the king’s wife. Good News Translation turns the direct quotation of the LORD’s words into an indirect quotation. In some languages it will be most natural to retain the first part of the quotation as direct speech (for example, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son who is sick”) but to translate the last part indirectly (for example, “Then the LORD told Ahijah how to answer her” or something similar).

When she came, she pretended to be another woman: When she came is literally “and let it be when she comes.” “Let it be” renders the jussive form of the Hebrew verb meaning “to be.” It is grammatically awkward for the final sentence of the verse to begin this way; and some scholars suggest that the text contains an error, while others argue that the form of the verb here is simply an unusual usage. Certainty of interpretation is not possible, and translators may follow either of these two possible interpretations: (a) the final sentence may be treated as the author’s comment to the reader and not as part of the words that God spoke to Ahijah (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, which all begin a new paragraph here); or (b) this sentence may be translated as part of God’s words to the prophet; for example, La Bible Pléiade says “But, when she comes she will pretend to be another woman” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, Anchor Bible, Bible en français courant, Maredsous, La Bible du Semeur). This second interpretation seems the better way to translate the verb in the jussive verb form. If this interpretation is followed, it will be important to retain this sentence in the previous paragraph.

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 .