And as Josiah turned: The text literally says “and Josiah turned.” While the insertion of the word as makes the narration more vivid, it represents nothing in the original text. Translators should, therefore, not feel obligated to reflect this in their rendering.
The tombs there on the mount: Since caves were used for tombs and tombs were dug into the sides of hills, New Living Translation correctly says “several tombs in the side of the hill.” The Hebrew noun rendered mount is the same word translated “hill” in 1 Kgs 16.24. The English word “hill” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, NET Bible) is more appropriate here. The Hebrew has the definite article with this word, so some languages render the whole phrase here as “the tombs on the hill there at Bethel.”
He sent and took …: Since the verb sent has no object, this may be better rendered “he sent some servants to take…” or “he ordered his men to remove….”
Burned them is literally “he burned.” Revised Standard Version, like many other modern translations, has added the pronoun them as the sense requires in English.
And defiled it: While Revised Standard Version, following the Hebrew, has only the conjunction and here, Good News Translation reveals what is implied by this conjunction with the words “In this way.” Josiah burned the bones on the altar in order to defile it and make it unusable for religious purposes. Other languages may find Good News Translation to be a helpful model here.
The man of God: As in 1 Kgs 12.22, this expression may be translated “the prophet.”
Who had predicted these things: The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb translated predicted is “to call,” “to proclaim,” or “to read.” In fact, the verb rendered proclaimed just before this verb is the same verb in Hebrew. But the context seems to require the idea of something that was proclaimed ahead of time, so the idea of prediction may legitimately be introduced into the translation. By adding the words “long before,” Good News Translation makes explicit the lapse of time that is only implied in the original text. This prophecy by an unnamed prophet from Judah is found in 1 Kgs 13.2.
At the end of this verse, Good News Translation adds “during the festival as King Jeroboam was standing by the altar. King Josiah looked around and saw the tomb of the prophet.” This reflects a longer text that is found in the Septuagint. It seems rather likely that this part of the Hebrew text was omitted in the process of copying because the eyes of the scribe jumped from the first occurrence of the man of God to its second occurrence. The longer text, which is followed by Good News Translation, is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament with a {B} degree of certainty. This longer text is found also in New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, Osty-Trinquet, and La Bible Pléiade (in square brackets), while the shorter Hebrew text is followed by New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible.
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 .