Since there are no eyewitnesses and no evidence, God is asked to be the judge to determine which party is guilty and to punish that person by doing to him or her the punishment which that person had called down upon himself or herself.

Hear thou in heaven: As noted earlier, this expression is repeated eight times in this chapter. Because it is a common theme in the prayer of Solomon, it should be translated in the same way each time it occurs, if it is natural to do so in the receptor language. See the comments at verse 30.

This verse begins in Hebrew with the independent pronoun “you” (also verses 34, 36, 39, and 43), which gives a slight emphasis that is overlooked in most translations. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh attempts to express this emphasis by saying “oh, hear in heaven.”

Act, and judge thy servants: Act renders the Hebrew verb that is often translated “to do.” This verb refers to the same action as the verb judge, and for this reason Good News Translation leaves the verb act untranslated. Others may translate “take action by judging your servants” or “do justice between your servants” (New Jerusalem Bible). Thy servants refers to the people involved in the conflict. This may be confusing in some languages if it is translated literally since the idea is simply that they are subject to God as part of the people of Israel. For the whole clause here, Contemporary English Version says simply “decide who is right.”

Condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct upon his own head: Condemning the guilty is literally “by declaring guilty the guilty.” Bringing his conduct upon his own head is literally “giving his way on his head.” This expression is common in the Old Testament as a way of saying that a person will be held responsible for the deeds that he does (see 1 Kgs 2.32, 44). Other versions have translated the clauses here as follows: “condemning the guilty by making him suffer for his misdeeds” (Moffatt), “Condemn the wicked and punish him for his conduct” (New American Bible), or simply “Punish the guilty person for what he has done” (International Children’s Bible).

Vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness: Vindicating the righteous is literally “by declaring righteous the righteous.” The Hebrew words rendered righteous and righteousness should not be understood in the theological sense that these words have in the New Testament. The righteous is better translated in English as “the innocent” (Revised English Bible, Gray), and righteousness is better rendered “innocence” (Revised English Bible) or “rights” (Gray).

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 .