So translates the common Hebrew conjunction. As a result of the difficulty experienced by the people who had been moved to Samaria, a report was sent to the king of Assyria. New Jerusalem Bible begins this verse with the word “Consequently.”

The king of Assyria was told is literally “they said to the king of Assyria saying.” The passive expression in Revised Standard Version will have to be made active in many languages as in Hebrew; and this may require the translators to decide who spoke the message. Probably the best solution is to keep the subject vague by saying something like “someone told the king of Assyria.” Or the king can become the subject by saying “the king of Assyria heard/learned.”

The law of the god of the land: This expression occurs twice in the verse, but the repetition may be considered unnecessarily redundant in many languages. The second occurrence may therefore be omitted. As a quotation in the mouth of a non-Israelite, it is perfectly appropriate for the speaker to talk like this. The reference is certainly to Yahweh, but a non-Israelite would have been unlikely to use that name. Some translations say “the God of the land” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) since the reference is to Yahweh, but the sense is probably expressed better by New Jerusalem Bible, which translates the god of the land as “the local god.” The Hebrew word translated law is more often rendered “judgment[s]” in other contexts (see 1 Kgs 3.28). Here the law has been translated “the rules” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “the established usage” (Revised English Bible), and “how to worship” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Contemporary English Version). In the religious world at that time, it was commonly believed that each regional god exercised power over the territory where that god was worshiped.

The Hebrew focusing particle rendered behold is often left untranslated in modern English versions, but if the receptor language has a similar device, it should probably be used here.

They are killing them: This clause in Revised Standard Version may be understood to mean that the people were killing the lions or that the lions were killing the people. But there should be no doubt in translation that the meaning is “these lions are killing the people.”

The direct quotation in this verse may be easily transformed into an indirect statement in certain languages. Here is a possible model:

• The king of Assyria learned that the people he had made to move into the cities of Samaria did not respect the laws of the god who possessed that land and because of this that god had sent lions that were killing some of them.

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 .