Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Chronicles. New York: UBS, 2014.
Samlah of Masrekah (verse 47): Nothing more is known of this ruler or this place.
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 Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael: There is no verb in this verse in Revised Standard Version or in the Hebrew text (which is fitting in a genealogical list in Hebrew), but many languages will require one. Possible models are “Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael” (Good News Translation) and “Abraham was the father of Isaac and Ishmael” (Contemporary English Version). In some languages it will be natural to use the verb “gave birth to.” Since Abraham was mentioned at the end of the previous verse, Revised English Bible omits his name here and renders this verse as a relative clause, saying “whose sons were Isaac and Ishmael.” However, if a section heading separates these two verses, it will be important to repeat the name of Abraham.
Only two sons of Abraham are mentioned here, but verses 32-33 include descendants of Abraham and his concubine Keturah. Although Ishmael was the firstborn, his name does not appear first, no doubt because Isaac was the ancestor of the people of Israel (see Gal 4.21-31).
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 .
Rehoboth on the Euphrates (verse 48) is literally “Rehoboth-han-nahar” (New American Bible; similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet, Peregrino). The name Rehoboth means “broad places.” The Hebrew expression han-nahar means “the river,” and it often refers specifically to the Euphrates River or the Nile River. La Bible Pléiade transliterates the Hebrew in the text and then places the words “Places-of-the-river” in parentheses, while Nueva Biblia Española translates the name in the text as “Plaza del Río.” Good News Translation and Bible en français courant say “Rehoboth-on-the-River” (similarly An American Translation, La Bible du Semeur, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Italian Common Language Version, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous). Since the Hebrew word nahar often refers to the Euphrates River, a number of translations say “Rehoboth on the Euphrates” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version [English Standard Version]; similarly Moffatt) or “Rehoboth-on-the-River-Euphrates” (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). But it seems doubtful that a king of Edom had a residence on the Euphrates. More likely nahar here refers to a river in Edom that flowed into Zered Brook. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy provides a helpful model, saying “Rehoboth, the town that was near the river.” If translators wish to indicate that the river may be the Euphrates, it seems better to state this in a footnote as New International Version and Italian Common Language Version do, rather than in the text itself as Revised Standard Version does.
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 .
Unlike the previous six kings and the following king, Baal-hanan (verse 49) is not linked with any particular place.
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 .
Instead of Pai (verse 50), many Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions read “Pau” as in Gen 36.39 (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nueva Versión Internacional, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Peregrino). As with other variant spellings of names in this chapter, the difference seems to be caused by the similarity of the Hebrew letters yod (Pai) and waw (Pau). The exact location of the city of Pai is not known.
Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab (verse 50): There are several difficulties in translating these words. First, the Septuagint translation of the parallel text in Gen 36.39 says that Matred was the son of Mezahab rather than his daughter (so Peregrino here in verse 50). Second, it is not certain whether Mezahab was a man or a woman, that is, whether this person was the father or the mother of Matred. Even more important, some scholars consider Mezahab to be a place name. New English Bible and Revised English Bible, for example, say “Mehetabel daughter of Matred, a woman of Me-zahab.” If Mezahab is a person, then Mehetabel is the “granddaughter” of Mezahab (so Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). This seems more likely than the other possibilities and is recommended to translators.
One important manuscript of the Septuagint omits the words and his wife’s name Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. Knoppers, therefore, omits these words here, assuming that these words were added to the Masoretic Text later in order to agree with the text of Gen 36.39.
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 Anah (verse 41) is the reading in the Masoretic Text even though only one son of Anah is listed. Possibly the plural sons is used since ancient records had headings to be filled out as names became known (so De Vries, page 32). Because only one son is mentioned, some translations correct the text to read “the son of Anah” (so Revised English Bible) or simply translate the singular according to the context (Peregrino). Elsewhere in these lists of names, the Hebrew sometimes reads the plural “sons” rather than the singular “son,” when the context seems to require the singular. For this reason some scholars suggest that sons in this context is simply used to refer to the descendants, regardless of whether there was more than one son. El libro del Pueblo de Dios translates verse 41 as follows: “The descendants of Anah were Dishon and his sons, that is, Hamran, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran.” Since the author’s source in Gen 36.25 lists a son and daughter as children of Anah, it is possible that the author of 1 Chronicles simply copied the plural sons and failed to change the noun to the singular.
Instead of Hamran (verse 41), some Hebrew and Greek manuscripts read “Hemdan” in agreement with Gen 36.26 (also New International Version, New Living Translation, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). As noted earlier regarding the names in this chapter, scribes sometimes confused the similar Hebrew letters for “r” and “d.”
According to the Revised Standard Version rendering of verse 41, Hamran, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran were the grandsons of Anah and great-grandsons of Seir. But the parallel text in Gen 36.26 seems to say that Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran were the grandsons of Seir. It is not clear whether the second mention of the name Dishon in verse 41 refers to the son of Anah or the son of Seir. The Good News Translation translation of these verses is based on the assumption that the name Dishon in verse 38 is an error, so that name is omitted. Translators should follow the interpretation found in Revised Standard Version here.
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 aOmanson / Ellington (UBS Helps for Trand other handbooks for translators see here .
Elpelet and Nogah are not included in the list in 2 Sam 5.14-16. But there is no good reason to harmonize the two passages by omitting them here.
Beeliada (meaning “Baal knows”) is called “Eliada” (“God knows”) in 1 Chr 3.8 and 2 Sam 5.16. This difference is undoubtedly connected with the practice of changing the spelling of names that once contained the word “Baal”. As in verse 4, some versions harmonize and read “Eliada” here in verse 7 (so New Living Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).
Although the Masoretic Text reads Beeliada, CTAT suggests that the text originally read “Baaliada” and that the vowels were changed to read Beeliada, which made the name closer to the name Eliada and also avoided attributing a name containing the word Baal to one of David’s sons. So following some manuscripts of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, CTAT gives an {A} rating to the corrected spelling “Baaliada.” A few versions read “Baaliada” here (La Bible de Jérusalem: Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée, La Biblia Latinoamerica), but nearly all other versions follow the Masoretic Text in reading Beeliada.
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 .
He built fortified cities in Judah: Since these cities were not built for the very first time, it may be better to translate built fortified cities as “rebuilt the fortified towns” (New Jerusalem Bible) “built up the fortified cities” (New International Version; similarly New Living Translation), or “restored the fortified cities.” For fortified cities, see the comments on 2 Chr 8.5.
For the land had rest: See the comments on 2Chr 14.1.
He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace: This statement is redundant by referring to no war and peace (literally “rest”). This redundancy may be eliminated if it is unnatural in the receptor language, but the statement that the LORD gave him peace explains why there was no war during that period.
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 .