The hand of God was also upon Judah …: In the Hebrew text this verse begins with a particle translated also. This particle functions here to indicate that just as God was at work among the people of the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun in the north, so was he at work among the people of Judah in the south. However, some interpreters understand this particle to be expressing contrast here with the statement in verse 10 that the people in the north did not obey God’s will. New American Bible, for example, begins with “In Judah, however….”

The hand of God was … upon Judah is figurative language, so a literal rendering should be avoided in many languages. To say that the hand of God is on someone, is a way of saying that God blesses him or is active in his life. God’s Word says “God guided the people of Judah.”

To give them one heart: The Hebrew word for heart refers to the thinking part of a person here, so a better rendering is “mind” in modern English. For this whole clause New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “making them of a single mind,” and New International Version says “to give them unity of mind.”

To do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD: See the comments on verses 1-3.

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 .