And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, two hundred and fifty: The demonstrative pronoun these may point backward to the officers in the previous verse, or it may point forward to another group of two hundred and fifty officers (see the comments below).

Chief officers is literally “officers of those in charge.” This phrase is usually understood in one of two different ways: (1) “chiefs in charge” or (2) “chiefs of [or, over] the ones in charge.” The first interpretation is followed by Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version. The second interpretation is followed by Revised English Bible (“officers … in charge of the foremen”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“officials in charge of the foremen”). The question is whether these 250 officials were directly in charge of the people doing the work (so Revised Standard Version) or whether these 250 officials were in charge of the foremen who supervised the workers (so Revised English Bible). Either way of interpreting the Hebrew grammar is acceptable.

Instead of two hundred and fifty officers, the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 9.23 speaks of “five hundred and fifty.” But there is no justification for harmonizing the two accounts and no major version does so.

Who exercised authority over the people: The people were those who were forced to work on Solomon’s building projects. For this whole clause Good News Translation has “in charge of the forced labor working on the various building projects,” and Bible en français courant says “to oversee the crowd of workers in the service of King Solomon.”

It is not clear whether the chief officers refer to the officers mentioned in the previous verse or whether they are another group of officers of Solomon. If the first understanding is followed, then New American Bible provides a helpful model for this verse, saying “They were also King Solomon’s two hundred and fifty overseers who had charge of the people.” If this verse introduces additional officers, then it will be better to restructure this verse along the lines of Good News Translation.

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 .