When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil from them is literally “And he went, Jehoshaphat and his people, to plunder their spoil.” As often happens in the context of war, the Hebrew word translated people refers to soldiers and not to citizens. New Century Version renders his people as “his army,” while others have “his men” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). The Hebrew word rendered spoil refers to the various articles of value that soldiers of a victorious army would take from the defeated enemy (see the comments on 1 Chr 20.2). Other possible technical renderings are “plunder” (New International Version, New American Bible), “booty” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), and “loot” (Good News Translation, God’s Word). Simpler ways of expressing the meaning are “valuables” (New Century Version) and “everything of value” (Contemporary English Version).
They found cattle in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things: In the Masoretic Text this clause is literally “And they found among them in great number, goods, dead bodies, and precious things.” There are two significant textual problems here as follows:
(1) Instead of cattle, which is the reading in the Septuagint, the Masoretic Text has “among them.” The Hebrew words for “among them” (bahem) and “cattle” (behemah) are similar, with the word for cattle having an additional final consonant. The Vulgate, which follows the Masoretic Text, translates “among them” as “among the dead bodies.” A number of modern versions also follow the Masoretic Text reading (so New International Version, NASB, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Nouvelle Bible Segond). However, many other modern translations follow the Septuagint here by saying “cattle” (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Moffatt, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “livestock” (New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating for the reading “cattle,” arguing that elsewhere in 2 Chronicles (14.15 and 32.5), a similar construction is found in which the Hebrew word translated in great numbers is preceded by the noun that it qualifies.
(2) Instead of clothing, which is the reading in a few Hebrew manuscripts and the Vulgate, the Masoretic Text has “dead bodies.” The Hebrew words for “dead bodies” (pegarim) and “clothing” (begadim) are similar. If the reading in the Masoretic Text is followed (so King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Nouvelle Bible Segond, La Bible de Jérusalem: Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée), the most likely meaning is that the articles of value were found “among the dead bodies.” But the reading with “clothing,” which is given a {C} rating by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, fits the context better. The word for “dead bodies” was probably written by mistake under the influence of the preceding verse, which has that word.
Precious things may be rendered specifically as “precious jewels” (An American Translation) or “precious ornaments” (Knox), or more generally as “valuables” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “articles of value” (Revised English Bible).
Which they took for themselves until they could carry no more: God’s Word renders this relative clause as a separate sentence by saying “They found more than they could carry.”
They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much: This sentence may be restructured by saying “There were so many valuable things that it took the army of Judah three days just to gather it all.”
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 .