After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom: After her refers to after Rehoboam had married Mahalath. In some languages it may be important to give some kind of indication of the amount of time that passed between the marriage of Rehoboam to Mahalath and his subsequent marriage to Maacah. If translators are forced to make such a decision, it was probably a matter of months rather than days, but there is no way of being certain. Absalom was one of David’s sons, so Maacah and Rehoboam were both grandchildren of King David. For this whole clause New Living Translation says “Later Rehoboam married another cousin, Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.” Most likely Maacah was the granddaughter of Absalom by his only daughter Tamar (2 Sam 14.27), who was married to Uriel (2 Chr 13.2). The Hebrew noun translated daughter may also mean “granddaughter” (so Revised English Bible, Moffatt). It is also possible that the Absalom mentioned here is a different person and not one of David’s sons.

Who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith: According to Good News Translation, all four of these children were sons, but several women in the Old Testament have the name Shelomith (Lev 24.11; 1 Chr 3.19). Whether this Shelomith was a son or a daughter is simply not known. Verse 22 makes it clear that Abijah was a son.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .