His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom: See the discussion on verse 2. The translation of mother as “grandmother” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Osty-Trinquet, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, La Bible du Semeur) is an attempt to solve the difficulty of how Maacah could be the mother of both Abijah (verse 2) and his son Asa, since verse 8 and 2 Chr 14.1 state that Asa was Abijah’s son. 2 Chr 13.2, however, states that Abijah’s mother was “Micaiah the daughter of Uriel,” not Maacah the daughter of Absalom. It should be noted also that some interpreters correct the Hebrew text in verse 8 to say that Asa was the brother of Abijah rather than his son.

It must be admitted that in other introductions to the reigns of the various kings, the Hebrew word rendered mother does mean “mother” and not “grandmother.” Provan suggests that Asa was born from an incestuous relationship between the evil king Abijah and Abijah’s own mother Maacah, in which case Maacah would be the mother of both Abijah and of Asa.

While Provan’s suggested interpretation is possible, a more convincing interpretation is that found in this footnote in Bible en français courant:
The mother of the king is often named at the beginning of an account of his reign, because she most likely had some influence in the royal court. Maacah was able to maintain this role at the beginning of the reign of her grandson Asa, after the brief reign of her son Abijah (15.1-8).

This interpretation has been incorporated into the translation itself in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, which reads “The position of Queen Mother was maintained by his grandmother Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is quoted here since it provides a good model, but if translators do not wish to incorporate this interpretation into the text, then they may wish to include this information in a footnote, as Bible en français courant has done (similarly New Jerusalem Bible).

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 .