Good News Translation adds a paragraph break here, which is helpful. Verses 3 and 4 are a summary of the stories found in Gen 38. Verse 4 lists two additional sons of Judah and states that he had five sons in all. This information is brought forward to the beginning of verse 3 in Good News Translation.

The sons of Judah …: See Gen 38.2-7. Many languages will require a verb in this introductory statement. Good News Translation adds the verb “had.” Other languages will find it more natural to say “Judah fathered the following sons” or “Judah gave birth….”

Er, Onan, and Shelah: Greater detail about Shelah and his descendants is provided in 1 Chr 4.21-23.

These three Bath-shua the Canaanitess bore to him: Translations are rather evenly divided concerning whether the Hebrew for Bath-shua is a woman’s name (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible) or whether it is two words, meaning “the daughter of Shua” (New International Version, Bible en français courant, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Reina-Valera revisada). Gen 38.2 identifies Shua as a Canaanite man. Languages vary as to whether it is more natural to mention the mother of the children before naming the children. The Hebrew, as reflected in Revised Standard Version, lists the children first and then states who their mother was. Good News Translation has reversed this, naming Bath-shua first. Contemporary English Version restructures in a different way by beginning this verse with “Judah and his Canaanite wife Bathshua had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.” Naturalness in the receptor language will be the most important factor in deciding which kind of structure to use.

Now Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD: For firstborn, see the comments on 1 Chr 1.13. LORD renders the Hebrew personal name for God revealed to Moses (see Exo 3.14-15). This name is transliterated “Yahweh” in New Jerusalem Bible and translated “the Eternal” in Moffatt. The American Standard Version of 1901 used the spelling “Jehovah,” but this is based on a mistaken notion about how the divine name was pronounced. The translation “Lord” is used in Revised Standard Version when the Hebrew word ʾadonai is used to refer to God. Er … was wicked in the sight of the LORD is literally “Er was … wicked in the eyes of the LORD.” Some other possible renderings for this clause are “The LORD considered Er … evil” (God’s Word), “he disobeyed and did what the LORD hated” (Contemporary English Version), and “Er … displeased the Lord so much” (Bible en français courant).

He slew him: Revised Standard Version‘s literal rendering here results in possible ambiguity for the pronouns he and him. Some versions avoid this ambiguity by making it clear that the pronoun he refers to “the LORD” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible). Other versions solve this problem by capitalizing the pronoun, saying “He” (New American Standard Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible), but this solution is not recommended since the hearers of the Scriptures will not be able to tell the difference, and the ambiguity will remain. God’s Word translates both of the pronouns with a noun to make the meaning clearer, saying “the LORD killed Er.” It is also possible to translate this clause as a relative clause for clarity; for example, New Jerusalem Bible has “[Yahweh] who put him to death.” Some other ways of translating the verb phrase slew him are “took his life” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “caused him to die” (Bible de Jérusalem, Osty-Trinquet).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, his son Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah: Hananiah is the fifty-fourth generation from Adam. From here on, it is not clear how the line of descent should be counted. Is Pelatiah the fifty-fifth generation, Jeshaiah the fifty-sixth generation, Rephaiah the fifty-seventh, and so on? Or are Pelatiah and Jeshaiah of the same generation? It is not clear here whether the list of names in this verse covers two, six, or seven generations. The meaning of this verse is fairly clear in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, but neither translation is a literal translation of the Masoretic Text. A literal translation reads as follows: “And the son of Hananiah Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah.” The footnote in Bible en français courant states, “The Hebrew text of this verse is not clear.” This is true for two reasons: (a) The singular “son” in the Hebrew introduces two sons: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah. (b) In the rest of the verse the plural “the sons of” occurs four times instead of the expected singular “his son.” Contemporary English Version avoids the problem somewhat by saying “descendants” instead of sons as follows: “Hananiah’s descendants were Pelatiah, Jeshaiah, Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah.” But this rendering does not indicate what relationship any of these men had to one another. Other solutions include the following:

• (1) The ancient versions begin with the plural “sons,” followed four times by the singular “his son,” and this is the basis for the Revised Standard Version translation (also New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, Reina-Valera revisada, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). According to this translation, two sons of Hananiah are listed, followed by four generations of Jeshaiah’s descendants. Alternatively, it is possible to understand each occurrence of “his son” as referring to another son of Hananiah, which gives the same meaning as interpretation 4 below; that is, the text refers to Hananiah and his six sons.

• (2) Some translations give basically the same meaning as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, but they solve the difficulty of the Hebrew text differently. Jewish Publication Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, for example, say “And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah; the sons of [Jeshaiah]: Rephaiah; the sons of [Rephaiah]: Arnan; the sons of [Arnan]: Obadiah; the sons of [Obadiah]: Shecaniah.” But this translation is odd, since after each occurrence of the words “the sons of [X],” only one name follows.

• (3) Another solution is to correct the four occurrences of “the sons of” in the Masoretic Text to “his son” and then to punctuate with a comma after each occurrence of “his son.” This solution requires that the expression “his son” be added after the last name Shecaniah. This produces the following translation: “Sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah; Jeshaiah his son, Rephaiah his son, Arnan his son, Obadiah his son, Shecaniah his son” (New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet). According to this translation, only one son of Hananiah is listed, and the following names are descendants of Pelatiah for five generations. Moffatt corrects the text to read “Hananiah was the father of Pelatiah, Pelatiah of Jeshaiah, Jeshaiah of Rephaiah, Rephaiah of Arnan, Arnan of Obadiah, Obadiah of Shecaniah” (similarly La Bible Pléiade), which gives the same meaning as the translation in New Jerusalem Bible. Compare also “The son of Hananiah: Pelatiah, his son Jeshaiah, his son Rephaiah, his son Arnon, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah” (Knoppers). This is also the reading of the Septuagint.

• (4) Another approach is to correct the Masoretic Text by omitting all four occurrences of “the sons of” and replacing it with the word “and.” This correction of the Masoretic Text is the basis for the rendering “The sons of Hananiah were Pelatiah, Jeshaiah, Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah” (New American Bible; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Einheitsübersetzung). This translation results in six sons of Hananiah.

Since none of these people is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament (the Obadiah mentioned here is not the prophet who wrote the book of Obadiah), it is impossible to be sure how many generations are intended, whether several from Hananiah to Shecaniah or whether only two or three generations. The differences in the translations quoted above reflect this uncertainty.

Another possibility is that the sons of Rephaiah, of Arnan, of Obadiah, and of Shecaniah were not descendants of Hananiah. They may have been other descendants of David living at the time of Zerubbabel. If this is the case, then Zerubbabel’s descendants are listed for two generations only: his son Hananiah and his grandsons Pelatiah and Jeshaiah. Some translations make no attempt to clarify the relationship of the persons named in the second half of this verse. Compare “The descendants of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, and the sons of Rephaiah, of Arnan, of Obadiah and of Shecaniah” (New International Version; similarly Segond], La Bible du Semeur, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nueva Versión Internacional).

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives only a {D} rating to the Masoretic Text, suggesting that perhaps the precise genealogy was not known to the author. If the Masoretic Text is to make any sense, the meaning may be “Descendants of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, as well as the sons of Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah and Shecaniah” (Bible en français courant; similarly New Century Version). Such a translation allows for the possibility that Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah all lived at the same time. Translators must simply choose one of the possible ways of understanding and translating this text and may state in a footnote that the translation is uncertain.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam: The Hebrew word translated children is the same one rendered “sons” in the previous verse. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “Sons” here. However, the context clearly requires a broader meaning, and translators may wish to make clear that Miriam was a daughter (so Good News Translation, Bible en français courant), while Aaron and Moses were sons. Menge says “And the sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses, and (their sister) Miriam.” In languages where the name Miriam is recognized as feminine, it may not be necessary to specify that Miriam was a daughter, but in those languages where this is not the case, the Good News Translation model may be more helpful.

The sons of Aaron …: Good News Translation adds the number “four” as the context allows. Good News Translation also starts a new paragraph here since the subject of Aaron’s sons is seen as a new topic (also Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

And their brethren the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God: The pronoun their refer to the Levites who were in charge of the choirs. For the word brethren, see the comments on verses 39 and 44. Good News Translation clearly takes this word in the sense of associates or colleagues and not literal brothers since their brethren the Levites is translated “the other Levites.” New International Version is similar with “Their fellow Levites.” New Revised Standard Version has “their kindred the Levites.”

The Hebrew verb translated were appointed is literally “were given.” In some languages this passive expression will have to be made active. If so, translators may begin this verse with “David appointed their fellow Levites…” (see verse 31).

All the service refers to the other responsibilities of those who were leading in worship.

The tabernacle of the house of God refers to the portable sanctuary mentioned in verse 32 (see the comments there). The house of God is in apposition with the tabernacle. This whole phrase may be rendered “the Tabernacle, the house of God” (New Living Translation, Revised English Bible; similarly New Jerusalem Bible).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah … five, all of them chief men: Uzzi was the oldest son of Tola (see verse 2). Revised Standard Version represents the form of the Hebrew by reading the plural sons at the beginning of the verse. However, since only one son of Uzzi is listed, some interpreters have suggested that the words And the sons of Izrahiah should be omitted. They claim that a scribe probably accidentally added And the sons of Izrahiah by repetition. According to this correction, Izrahiah would be a brother rather than a father to the four other men who are named here. This would also make good sense of the word five, if Izrahiah was the brother of the other four men listed here. But if the Masoretic Text is followed, it may be better to begin with “The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah…” (so Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente; similarly Good News Translation). Moffatt has “Uzzi’s son, Izrahiah, was the father of….” Izrahiah was a great grandson of Issachar. Since only four sons of Izrahiah are listed, the number five includes Izrahiah as well as his four sons. One way to express the last half of this verse is “Izrahiah and his four sons … were all heads of families” (Good News Translation). Compare also “Izrahiah and his sons … were all five heads of families” (Bible en français courant) and “The sons of Izrahiah were … These five became the leaders of clans” (New Living Translation).

Chief men may be expressed as “heads of families” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), “heads of clans” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or “leaders of clans” (New Living Translation).

Contemporary English Version avoids the problems in the verse by translating rather loosely: “Uzzi was the father of Izrahiah and the grandfather of Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, who were also family leaders.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

All of these were men of Asher: The phrase All of these may refer to the whole tribe of Asher (beginning in verse 30) or only to the descendants of Heber (beginning in verse 32). Men of Asher refers to the “descendants of Asher” as indicated in many modern versions, such as Good News Translation, New International Version, and Revised English Bible.

Heads of fathers’ houses: See the comments on 1 Chr 7.2.

Approved, mighty warriors, chief of the princes: Approved may be rendered “chosen ones” (Braun), “choice men” (New International Version), or “select men” (American Bible). For mighty warriors, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.24. Chief of the princes may be translated “outstanding leaders” (Good News Translation, New International Version), “prominent leaders” (New Living Translation), or “foremost of the chieftains” (An American Translation). For these three expressions Moffatt has “picked soldiers of prowess, paramount chieftains,” and Revised English Bible says “picked men of ability, leading princes.”

Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was twenty-six thousand men: Regarding the translation of enrolled by genealogies, see the comments on 1 Chr 7.5. For this whole sentence Braun says “and their military roster listed twenty-six thousand men,” and Revised English Bible has “They were enrolled among the fighting troops; the total number was twenty-six thousand men.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .