Besides two hundred twenty of the temple servants: In addition to the Levites, a group of temple servants was sent (see Ezra 2.43).

Whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites: The reference is to King David who was known to the readers of the original text. Good News Translation makes this explicit for today’s readers. The word officials translates the same Hebrew word that was rendered “officers” in Ezra 7.28. It can be translated “leading men,” “princes” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “chiefs” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb translated set apart is “to give”; that is, King David and his officials “gave them” or “designated them” to attend the Levites. They were assigned to provide service to the Levites, “to assist the Levites” (Good News Translation). This does not refer specifically to the temple servants who were sent at this time, but to their ancestors as Good News Translation makes clear. This is the only reference in the Old Testament to the origin of this category of Temple workers.

These were all mentioned by name: In contemporary English “to mention” conveys a fairly casual notion. The meaning here can be “listed” as Good News Translation renders it, “indicated” (New English Bible), “designated” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “registered” (New International Version). The Hebrew text uses a passive verb construction and does not say where the names of these Temple servants were recorded. If the receptor language does not use a passive construction or a stative form, it may be necessary to use an alternative construction such as the indefinite third person plural: “They recorded the names of all of them in writing.” Alternatively, an indefinite subject may be introduced; for example, “People wrote the names of all of them in books.” Translators must make it clear that it was the names of the people who were chosen now that were written down and not their ancestors who had been designated by King David.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .