And that …: This verse continues the terms of the agreement started in the previous verse. In some languages it will be better to begin a new sentence here by saying “They agreed that…” (New Living Translation) or “This covenant stipulated that…” (La Bible du Semeur).

Whoever would not seek the LORD: See the comments on the previous verse. The God of Israel: Good News Translation omits this phrase, but it should be kept.

Should be put to death renders a passive verb in Hebrew, which will have to be made active in some languages. But it is difficult to decide who the agent is here. It is probably the people who made the agreement, so a possible model for the beginning of this verse that uses an active verb is “They agreed that they would put to death anyone who did not worship the LORD, the God of Israel….” Such drastic action appears to assume that anyone who did not worship God was worshiping idols and causing other people to do so (see Deut 13.6-10; 17.2-7).

Whether young or old, man or woman: These contrasting categories are used here to show that the punishment would be all-inclusive. The Hebrew words translated young or old are literally “small or great” (New International Version, King James Version, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but a literal rendering should be avoided in some languages because it is likely to be misunderstood as referring to physical size rather than to age.

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 .