Then the he-goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered Then may be translated “Finally” (Good News Translation) since this is the last step in a series of events. The he-goats refers to the seven goats in verse 21. The Hebrew verb rendered were brought is literally “they caused to approach,” that is, “they presented.” It is an active verb with the priests as the subject. Instead of the assembly, it will be more natural in some languages to speak of “the people who had gathered.” For this whole clause New Century Version has “Then the priests brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the people there.”

And they laid their hands upon them: New Century Version makes clear the referents of the pronouns in this clause by saying “After the king and the people put their hands on the goats.” By laying their hands on the goats, they identified with the fate of the goats (see Lev 4).

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 .