Made a conspiracy: See the comments on 2 Kgs 12.20.

The son of Remaliah: This repetitive phrase may be omitted at this point if it seems awkward in the language of translation. See the comments on verse 25.

Struck him down, and slew him: The two verbs here may be better translated by a single verb in other languages. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has only the verb “murdered.” But it may be possible to translate “attacked and killed him” as in Revised English Bible. See the comments at verse 10.

Reigned in his stead: See the comments at 1 Kgs 11.43 and 2 Kgs 8.24.

In the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah: The number “twenty” does not fit with the statements that Jotham reigned sixteen years (verse 33) and that Hoshea began to reign during the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah (2 Kgs 17.1). Therefore these words are taken by some experts to be a later addition to the text and are left untranslated in some versions (New Jerusalem Bible). But the vast majority of modern translations include these words, and Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament also recommends their inclusion in the text, giving the Masoretic Text a {B} rating.

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament is probably correct in claiming that the readings in several Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament are attempts to eliminate this chronological difficulty. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament is further correct in suggesting that the number “twenty” is part of a mixed-up text. Even so, these words should not be left out of the translation. In some languages, however, it may be more natural to shift this information to the beginning of the sentence as has been done by Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .