Apparently the southern kingdom of Judah controlled a number of trade routes, which meant that the Philistines and Arabs paid taxes to King Jehoshaphat.

Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute: For Philistines see the comments on 1 Chr 1.12. The Hebrew noun translated presents is the same word rendered “tribute” in verse 5 (see the comments there since it has the same meaning here). The Hebrew noun rendered tribute does not have this meaning elsewhere in the Old Testament. It means “load” or “burden.” Like Revised Standard Version, some other versions take these two nouns as two distinct items. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, renders presents, and silver for tribute as “presents and a load of silver,” and New American Bible says “gifts and a tribute of silver.” If this interpretation is followed, then the sense appears to be that the Philistines brought tribute in some form, as well as great quantities of silver. But others consider the second item as a more detailed explanation of the first one; for example, Revised English Bible says “a gift of a great quantity of silver.”

And the Arabs brought him … rams and … he-goats: The Arabs probably does not refer to the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, but to the tribes mentioned also in 2 Chr 21.16 and 26.7, who lived in southwestern Palestine near the Philistines. However, the only way to deal with this is probably in a footnote. Rams is literally “a flock of male sheep.” Good News Translation has “sheep,” which is correct, but not as precise as the Hebrew. It is better to say “rams” (see the comments on 1 Chr 15.26). He-goats is more naturally rendered “male goats” (New Revised Standard Version) or “billy goats” in English. Good News Translation says simply “goats,” but this rendering is not as specific as the Hebrew.

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 .