Then Shaphan the secretary told the king: Then translates the common Hebrew conjunction. It merely indicates the continuation of the story. Shaphan was identified in verse 15 as the secretary. Since he began speaking to the king in verse 16, it seems stylistically heavy in some languages to repeat the name and his position again so soon in verse 18. Good News Translation renders this whole clause simply as “Then he added.” Contemporary English Version omits this clause so that there is no break in Hilkiah’s message to the king.
Hilkiah the priest has given me a book: As in verse 14, it may be more natural to omit the words the priest (so Good News Translation). It is appropriate to say a book since the king had no previous knowledge of the discovery of the book as described in verse 14. The Hebrew has no definite article.
And Shaphan read it before the king: This clause does not mean Shaphan read the book silently to himself in the presence of the king. Rather, he “read it aloud to the king” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), as the next verse makes clear. Read it is literally “read from it” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, La Bible Pléiade), which may mean that he read parts of it but not all of it. The parallel text of 2 Kgs 22.10 says simply he “read it.” New Jerusalem Bible says he “read extracts from it.” But it is doubtful that the Hebrew grammar supports such a distinction. La Bible du Semeur says he “began to read it,” but this rendering does not seem to express the meaning of the Hebrew.
If it is necessary to convert the direct quotation of this verse to an indirect statement, the following model may be considered:
• Then Shaphan told the king that Hilkiah had given him a book. So Shaphan read from it [aloud] in the presence of the king.
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 .