And he dealt wisely, and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities: Since the previous verse mentions both Rehoboam and Abijah, Good News Translation replaces the pronoun he with the name “Rehoboam” in order to avoid ambiguity in English. The same is done by Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, and New Century Version. The Hebrew verbs rendered dealt wisely and distributed do not refer to two separate actions. Rather, Rehoboam acted wisely by appointing his sons as commanders of the fortified cities. By having his own sons in these fortified cities, there was less chance of the cities turning against him. Compare Revised English Bible, which says “He showed prudence in detailing his sons to take charge of all the fortified towns throughout the whole territory of Judah and Benjamin.” Nouvelle Bible Segond has “He had the wisdom to distribute all his sons in all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities” (similarly An American Translation, La Bible Pléiade). Perhaps another reason for appointing these sons to the various fortified cities was to make the way more secure for Abijah to succeed him so that the other brothers would not be present to challenge him.
The precise sense of the Hebrew verb rendered distributed is not entirely clear, but the intended meaning is probably that one son was put in charge of each fortified city. This interpretation is made explicit in Contemporary English Version, which says “Rehoboam was wise enough to put one of his sons in charge of each fortified city in his kingdom.”
Some of his sons is literally “from all his sons.” The Hebrew most likely means that he appointed some of his sons, but not all of them. Use of the word some (also New Revised Standard Version, Anchor Bible) or “various” (New American Bible) clearly means that not all of his sons were stationed in these cities. Moffatt says “his other sons.” Some versions have simply “his sons” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).
For the fortified cities, see verses 5-12.
And he gave them abundant provisions: The Hebrew word translated provisions is a general word that usually refers to food, but in this context it may also refer to weapons of war. Most versions use a general word such as provisions (also New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible), but New Jerusalem Bible uses the specific word “food.”
And procured wives for them: The Masoretic Text says “and asked for many wives” (wayyisheʾal hamon nashim in Hebrew). All of the ancient versions except the Syriac agree with the Masoretic Text here. The Syriac seems to understand the text to mean that Rehoboam wanted many wives for himself. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text, but states that the Masoretic Text probably contains an error. Unfortunately, any attempt to correct the Masoretic Text is only a guess at what the text originally read. Some interpreters think that the Hebrew words translated “and asked for many wives” originally read “and took for them wives” (wayyissaʾ lahem nashim; so Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, La Bible Pléiade). According to this interpretation, the reading in the Masoretic Text is the result of a scribe’s having divided the Hebrew words wayyissaʾ lahem incorrectly and then mistakenly copying the letter for “n” twice.
The Masoretic Text may mean that Rehoboam took many wives for himself, in which case this statement is simply a summary of verse 21. But without correcting the Masoretic Text, it is more likely that the intended sense is either that he got one wife for each son or that he got several wives for each son. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are ambiguous, as is the Hebrew, but most likely the intended meaning is that each son had several wives. Compare New Living Translation, which says “and arranged for each of them to have several wives.”
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 .