And they buried him in the city of David among the kings: The pronoun they is indefinite, but the implied referent is probably “his people.” Some versions translate buried as a passive verb since the agent for this action is unknown (so Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Jehoiada was buried among the kings, but King Joash himself was not buried in the royal tombs (verse 25) because he turned away from serving God after the death of Jehoiada. For the city of David, see the comments on 1 Chr 11.5 and 2 Chr 5.2.

Because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house: The Hebrew conjunction rendered because introduces why Jehoiada was allowed to be buried with the kings in spite of the fact that he was not himself a king. It was because he had done good things, such as encouraging King Joash to obey the LORD. This is another context where the word Israel is used for the southern kingdom of Judah. The Hebrew expression rendered in Israel may be understood two different ways. It may mean “in the country of Israel” or “for the people of Israel” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). According to Good News Translation, Jehoiada did good for his people, God, and the Temple. An American Translation expresses the same sense by rendering this whole clause as “because he had done good to Israel and toward God and his house.” However, others interpret the Hebrew to mean that Jehoiada did good for God and the Temple in the country of Israel, not for the people of Israel. New International Version, for example, says “because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple” (similarly New Century Version). The renderings of Good News Translation and An American Translation seem to express best the sense of the Hebrew grammar here. His house refers to the house of God, the Temple, and not to Jehoiada’s own house.

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 .