And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel … in the midst of the assembly is literally “And Jahaziel son of Zecharyahu son of Benaiah son of Jeiel son of Mattaniah the Levite of the sons of Asaph, the spirit of the LORD was on him in the midst of the assembly.” Revised Standard Version has restructured the order of words in this verse. The common Hebrew conjunction rendered And may be taken as a temporal connector (so New International Version with “Then”), if it is translated at all. For the Spirit of the LORD, see the comments on 2 Chr 18.23. The Hebrew expression translated came upon refers to a rather dramatic revelation in this context. For this reason Contemporary English Version translates “suddenly spoke to.” New Century Version says simply “entered,” but this translation is not recommended.
The son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Je-iel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph: This long genealogical statement and its position in the sentence may present problems to translators. The order of the elements in this genealogy may have to be changed in order to be more natural in the receptor language. For example, the fact that Jahaziel was a Levite from the clan of Asaph may fit more logically before the names of his ancestors. And the listing of his ancestors may be reversed in some languages, naming the most distant ancestor first, even though the Hebrew moves from the closest ancestor to the most distant one. On the other hand, La Bible du Semeur simplifies the construction, stating only that Jahaziel was “a son of Zechariah, a descendant of Benaiah, Jeiel and Mattaniah, a Levite from the lineage of Asaph.” The descendants of Asaph were singers in the Temple (see 1 Chr 16.7; 2 Chr 5.12; 35.15).
The phrase in the midst of the assembly at the end of this verse may fit better elsewhere in some languages; for example, Revised English Bible begins this verse with “there, in the midst of the assembly, the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel….”
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 .