The king refers, of course, to Solomon, but in some languages it may be advisable to make this explicit in translation.

As in verses 25, 29, and 34, Good News Translation omits the son of Jehoiada for reasons of English style.

The verbal expression put … over may be expressed in a variety of ways. But the idea is that Benaiah was named commanding officer of the same forces that Joab had controlled. For in place of Joab, the Hebrew says only “in his place,” but both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation replace the pronoun “his” with the proper name Joab. Some possible models for the first half of the verse are “The king appointed Benaiah to command the army in place of Joab” (Revised English Bible; similarly New Living Translation) and “The king replaced Joab by Benaiah at the head of the army” (Bible en français courant).

For Zadok the priest, see 1 Kgs 1.8.

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 .