And the LORD said: The verb said may be better translated “asked” (Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur) since what follows is a question.

Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?: The Hebrew verb rendered entice in verses 19-21 suggests the idea of misleading someone by deception. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates it as “seduce.” Other renderings include “deceive” (Good News Translation, New American Bible, An American Translation) and “delude” (Moffatt). As in verse 5, the verb go up may be taken in this context as having a military meaning, so it may be rendered “march” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “attack” (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). The Hebrew verb and preposition rendered fall at are more accurately translated “fall on.” The Hebrew contains a double meaning: (a) “to fall on” is a technical military expression meaning “to attack” and (b) “to fall on” means “to fall in battle at.” In this context most modern versions follow the second sense; for example, Contemporary English Version renders fall at Ramoth-gilead as “Ramoth where he will be killed” (similarly New Century Version), and New International Version says “going to his death there [Ramoth].” Another possible model is “Ramoth where the enemy will kill him.”

And one said one thing, and another said another is literally “And this one spoke saying thus and that one saying thus.” A literal translation of this Hebrew idiom, such as that found in Revised Standard Version (also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible), may incorrectly suggest that only two angels responded. Rather, the sense is that the various angels individually were giving different responses to God. Some possible models for translating this idiom are “At which some answered one way, and some another” (New Jerusalem Bible), “Some said one thing; some said another” (New Century Version), “There were many suggestions” (New Living Translation), and “Each of the angels gave his own answer.”

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 .