And: The common conjunction at the beginning of this verse is taken as a logical connector by Good News Translation and International Children’s Bible. Other versions leave it untranslated, but there is almost certainly a logical connection between the severity of the famine and the calling of Obadiah.

Ahab called Obadiah: Moffatt, New American Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translate the verb called using the pluperfect tense in English by saying “had summoned.” This implies that Ahab had taken this action prior to Elijah’s setting out to meet him. The Hebrew verb may be translated as a simple past as in Good News Translation or as a pluperfect, so either interpretation is possible.

Obadiah was a common Hebrew name, and twelve different persons in the Old Testament have this name. The name means “Yahweh’s servant,” and the original readers would have noted the significance of this name in the story that follows. It may be necessary in some languages to make it clear in a footnote that the person mentioned in this story is not the same as the prophet whose writing appears elsewhere in the Bible.

Who was over the household: The same expression is used of Ahishar in 1 Kgs 4.6 (where Revised Standard Version has “was in charge of the palace”) and of Arza in 1 Kgs 16.9. Renderings of this clause here include “who was in charge of the palace” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version) and “the master of the palace” (New Jerusalem Bible). New American Bible uses the technical expression “his vizier.”

Obadiah revered the LORD greatly: The Hebrew participle rendered revered covers a range of meanings, including “to be afraid,” “to tremble,” “to stand in awe,” and “to have reverence for.” The context here suggests that the sense is not so much “be afraid of” (King James Version “feared”) as “revere” (so Revised Standard Version) or “honor.” Indeed, Obadiah’s name itself may have been given to him because of his devotion to God.

The end of this verse along with all of verse 4 contains a parenthetical comment. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation place parentheses around verses 3b-4. Other translations use dashes for the same purpose (so New Jerusalem Bible, Anchor Bible). Contemporary English Version restructures the whole of verses 3-4, combining them as follows:

• At that time Obadiah was in charge of Ahab’s palace, but he faithfully worshiped the LORD. In fact, when Jezebel was trying to kill the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah hid one hundred of them in two caves and gave them food and water.
Ahab sent for Obadiah….

It will be noted that Contemporary English Version begins a new paragraph with the words “Ahab sent for Obadiah” at the very end of these two verses. These words are actually at the beginning of verse 3 in the Hebrew text.

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 .