This verse begins with the common Hebrew verbal transition (“And it happened”), but most modern translations omit it as being unnatural and unnecessary. It simply marks the beginning of a new paragraph.

In the third year of Hoshea … king of Israel; that is, in the third year of Hoshea’s reign over Israel, the northern kingdom.

Hezekiah … king of Judah, began to reign: Hezekiah was, of course, not the king of Judah until he took power. For this reason it will be much better in some languages to say “Hezekiah … began to rule over the kingdom of Judah” or something similar.

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation follow the order of the Hebrew in this verse. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente restructures as follows: “Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, became king of Judah when Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, was in the third year of his reign.” This restructuring immediately focuses on Hezekiah and shows the reader that this section is about Hezekiah and not about Hoshea. It may provide a helpful model for certain other languages.

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 .