And renders the common Hebrew conjunction. Here it does not need to be reflected in translation. New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and others omit it. Some translations, however, take it as a temporal transition by translating it “Then” (New International Version, King James Version).

The word of the LORD came: In order to avoid misunderstanding, it is possible to translate the meaning of this expression in such a way as to make the LORD the subject of the sentence rather than the word; for example, Good News Translation and New American Bible have “The LORD spoke” (compare 1 Kgs 6.11; 13.20).

Jehu the prophet should not be confused with King Jehu of 2 Kgs 9–10. Verse 7 identifies Jehu as a prophet, and some common language translations have moved that information forward to verse 1 in order to identify him clearly at the beginning of this story (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant). According to 2 Chr 20.34, Jehu was the author of records regarding the Judean king Jehoshaphat which were used by the author of 1-2 Chronicles in writing his own history of Jehoshaphat.

Hanani is not clearly identified here as either the father or the mother of Jehu. If this Hanani is the same person mentioned in 2 Chr 16.7, then the reference is to Jehu’s father.

Against Baasha: It should be clear in the receptor language that the message that follows in verses 2-4 is a condemnation of Baasha and not of Jehu. Good News Translation restructures the text and says “gave him this message for Baasha” (similarly Bible en français courant).

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 .