They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the LORD: Continuing the quotation in which Shaphan includes himself among the “servants” of the king, Good News Translation uses the pronoun “We” in place of They. The Hebrew verb translated emptied out may mean either “to pour out” or “to melt down.” Both make sense in this context. The first meaning seems to be the basis for the renderings emptied out the money and “paid out the money” (New International Version). The sense in this case would be that the money was emptied out of the container that held the money. The second meaning is the basis for renderings such as “turned into bullion the metals” (New American Bible) and “melted down the silver” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The sense in this case would be that the silver was melted down to produce a better grade of metal.

The literal rendering the money that was found in the house of the LORD may incorrectly suggest that the money was accidentally discovered, just as the book of the Law was discovered by chance. But since this was money that people had brought to the Temple (verse 9), it may be better to say “the money that was kept in the Temple” (Good News Translation) or simply “the money that was in the Temple” (similarly New International Version). In some languages it may even be natural to say “the money that stayed/slept in the Temple.”

And have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen: Good News Translation keeps the imagery of the hand here by saying “and handed it over to the workers and their supervisors.”

Here is a possible model for changing the direct quotation of verses 16 and 17 into indirect discourse:

• Shaphan reported that he and all the other officials were doing everything the king had told them to do. 17 He explained that they had taken the money that people had donated in the Temple and had given it to the supervisors and the workers.

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 .