Baana the son of Ahilud: Baana was in charge of the fifth administrative district, which was located in the valleys of Jezreel and Beth-shean, southwest of Lake Galilee. The rendering the son of Ahilud, which uses the definite article, risks giving the impression that Ahilud had only one son. So it may be better to say “a son of Ahilud” or “one of Ahilud’s sons.” It is quite possible that the person named “Ahilud” in verse 3 is the same as the one mentioned here. Jehoshaphat, the recorder, would therefore have been the brother of Baana.

Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan …: Beth-shean was a town located at the southeast end of Jezreel Valley. In the Old Testament the name Jezreel sometimes refers to a valley located along the southern border of the territory of Issachar. But there was also a town that overlooked this valley which bore the same name. In this verse the town is in view. Taanach and Megiddo were “towns” (Contemporary English Version) west of Beth-shean. Abel-meholah was a town located somewhere south of Beth-shean on the Jordan River, but whether it was on the east bank or the west bank is uncertain. Zarethan was a town located further south of Abel-meholah, and it is therefore difficult to understand the sense of the words Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan. The exact location of Zarethan is uncertain, but most locate it around 29 kilometers (18 miles) south of Beth-shean. The exact location of the town of Jokmeam is also not known, but it was probably in the Jordan Valley near Zarethan.

It is difficult to make sense of the geography of this text, and Good News Translation probably comes close to the sense. Some scholars have suggested that the words which is beside Zarethan are out of place and should follow Abel-meholah since Zarethan is closer to Abel-meholah than to Beth-shean. Other interpreters correct the name Jokmeam to “Jokneam” (so Parole de Vie), which was a town located northwest of Beth-shean. If this correction is followed, then the places named move from Taanach and Megiddo east toward Bethshean and then from Zarethan in the southern part of the district up through Abel-meholah to Jokneam in the north. Recognizing the difficulties in understanding the Hebrew text of this verse, the following translation by De Vries may serve as a model:

• Baanah son of Ahilud: Taanach and Megiddo, and all of Beth-shan which is adjacent to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shan to Abel-meholah, to a point across from Jokmeam.

Another possible model is:

• Baana, the son of Ahilud, was in charge of the towns of Taanach and Megiddo. He was also in charge of the whole region of Beth-Shan, which was near the town of Zarethan. This area was south of the town of Jezreel from Beth-Shan to Abel-Meholah to the other side of Jokmeam.

Note that Good News Translation identifies some of the locations here as towns and others as cities on the basis of archaeological evidence and references in the Old Testament. In Hebrew the same word may be used to refer to a village, a town, and a city. Towns are smaller than cities but larger than villages.

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 .