He said: The subject of the verb said is Josiah, who is mentioned by name in Hebrew at the beginning of verse 16. Since several other persons have been mentioned in verses 16-17, Good News Translation repeats the name “Josiah” here for the sake of clarity. Osty-Trinquet provides a similar model by inserting “the king” within square brackets.

Let him be; let no man move his bones: The command Let him be refers to the dead prophet. His resting place was to be left undisturbed. Since he had been dead for a long time, some languages may not find it natural to say Let him be, using the pronoun him. It is equally legitimate to translate “Leave the grave alone” (New Century Version) or “Leave it alone” (Revised English Bible), with the pronoun “it” referring to the grave. The second expression (let no man move his bones) will probably be considered quite natural as it is. In languages where indirect discourse is preferred, it will be possible to translate the meaning of both expressions together as follows: “ordered that they should leave his grave alone and that his bones should not be disturbed.”

The transition word So renders the common Hebrew conjunction. The context requires a logical connection between the king’s order and the resulting fact that the bones of the prophets were not bothered.

The prophet who came out of Samaria refers to a different prophet from the one “who came from Judah” (verse 17). He was from the city of Bethel itself (see 1 Kgs 13.11, 31), which was in the former northern kingdom of Israel. In some languages it will be more natural to speak of “the other prophet, the one who was from the region of Samaria.” In this context the proper name Samaria does not refer to the capital city called by this name, but to the entire region of Samaria (see the comments at 1 Kgs 13.32). This is confirmed by the reference to “the cities of Samaria” in verse 19. Contemporary English Version translates “the old prophet from Israel” since Samaria was a way of referring to the former northern kingdom of Israel at that time. By the time of Josiah, the city of Samaria had already fallen and the majority of the citizens of the northern kingdom had been taken away into exile. But there were certainly remnants of the former northern kingdom and possibly also some who had managed to return from the exile. Details on the two prophets and their tomb are given in 1 Kgs 13.11-32.

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 .