I, even I only, am left: In Hebrew the first person singular pronoun I is emphatic, and Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version attempt to express this with the words I, even I only. Good News Translation does not preserve the emphasis of the pronoun but translators should attempt to do so. Compare New Jerusalem Bible: “I, I alone, am left.” Elijah repeats these words in 1 Kgs 19.10, 14.

Four hundred and fifty men: The Hebrew noun translated men sometimes includes women, so Good News Translation does not limit the 450 prophets to males only as Revised Standard Version does. A number of other translations do not translate the Hebrew noun either (Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but it is not clear whether they do so in order to allow for the possibility that some of the prophets were women or whether they considered the word men redundant.

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 .