All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites …: Good News Translation and Parole de Vie have restructured verses 20-21 by combining them and placing the list of peoples near the end of the combined verses instead of at the beginning as in the Hebrew. This list of peoples appears frequently in the Old Testament and usually includes the Canaanites also (for example, Exo 3.8, 17; 23.23; Josh 11.3; Jdg 3.5). Good News Translation also makes explicit that the peoples listed were “the descendants of the people of Canaan.”

The passive expression, who were left, will be rendered actively in some languages; for example, “who had stayed in the land” or “whom the Israelites did not force to leave the land.”

The land: It should somehow be made clear that this refers to the land of Israel. Good News Translation does this by saying “their land” after having spoken of the Israelites earlier in the verse. Contemporary English Version, which restructures verses 20-22 differently, states that these groups were “in Israel.”

To destroy utterly renders the causative form of a Hebrew verb meaning “to ban” or “to exterminate.” This verb is rendered “to enforce the curse of destruction” in New Jerusalem Bible. In other languages this may be translated “to cause to disappear completely.” The Israelites had been commanded to completely destroy the original inhabitants of the land (Deut 7.1-2). This practice, called the “ban,” consisted of dedicating something or someone to God by destruction (Deut 13.6-18; Josh 10.28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39, 40; 11.12). New Living Translation has the following footnote, which may be useful to include in other translations: “The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.”

A forced levy of slaves: Forced levy renders the same Hebrew noun elsewhere rendered “forced labor” (as in verse 15, for example). The word slaves occurs earlier in 1 Kgs 2.39-40. Here it emphasizes the fact that the work these people were forced to do was not voluntary and was not paid.

To this day: See the comments on 1 Kgs 8.8.

New Living Translation may be a helpful model for the translation of verses 20-21 in other languages:

• There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These were descendants of the nations that Israel had not completely destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve in the labor force to this day.

Compare also NET Bible:

• Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Their descendants remained in the land (the Israelites were unable to wipe them out). Solomon conscripted them for his work crews, and they continue in that role to this very day.

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 .