His servants: In all likelihood, this expression refers to the officials who had been serving under King Josiah (so Good News Translation) and probably not to lowly servants.
Carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo …: Instead of saying carried him dead, it may be more natural in certain languages to say “carried his body” or “… his corpse” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Similarly, the pronoun him in the expressions brought him to Jerusalem and buried him may be translated “it,” referring to the corpse. Some commentators, however, think that Josiah was not yet dead at this point, but only severely wounded. Gray, for example, translates “drove him dying from Megiddo….” But since the previous verse already says that he was killed, this seems unlikely.
In his own tomb: As noted at 2 Kgs 21.18, the kings of Judah that came after Hezekiah were no longer entombed where the previous kings had been buried. This was probably because there was no longer any space there. In the case of Manasseh and Amon, it could be argued that they were refused burial with their ancestors because they were bad kings, but this argument will certainly not apply to Josiah, who is said to be the best of all the kings of Judah (verse 25).
The people of the land: This expression has been discussed in detail in chapter 11 (verses 14, 18-20). It also occurs in 2 Kgs 15.5; 16.15 and 21.24.
Jehoahaz: Bible readers are often confused by the fact that two different kings had this name. The king of Israel who ruled 814–798 B.C. was called “Jehoahaz.” The king of Judah, in this passage, is referred to by the same name. Good News Translation consistently uses the shortened form of the name, “Joahaz,” for the king of Judah and the longer form for the earlier king of Israel. A similar situation exists with the names Jehoram/Joram and Joash/Jehoash (see Appendix B, “Who’s Who among the Kings?”).
To complicate matters further, the king of Judah, called “Joahaz” in Good News Translation, is elsewhere called “Shallum” (1 Chr 3.15). Joahaz was the youngest of Josiah’s four sons. Normally, the oldest son would become the new king following the death of his father.
Anointed him: Regarding the verb anointed, see the comments on 1 Kgs 1.34. According to some scholars, anointing would not have been required if Johanan, the oldest of the sons of Josiah (1 Chr 3.15), had succeeded his father. Because the succession was abnormal, it was necessary to pour oil on the head of Joahaz to show that he was indeed the new ruler.
As Osty-Trinquet points out in a note on his translation, even though the Hebrew literally says “they anointed him,” it is most likely that one single person actually did the anointing. For this reason it will be acceptable to say something like the following for the last half of this verse: “the people of the land took Josiah’s son Joahaz and one of them anointed him as they made him king.”
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 .