He broke down the altars …: As in the previous verses, it is unlikely that Josiah alone did the actual breaking down of all the altars and performed all the other actions described in this verse. So it may be better to translate “he had the altars destroyed…” or “he supervised the smashing of the altars….”

And beat the Asherim and the images into powder: See verse 4. To say that these idols were ground into powder is a way of emphasizing the thoroughness with which the destruction was carried out.

And hewed down all the incense altars: See verse 4.

Throughout all the land of Israel clearly refers to the northern kingdom of Israel. Good News Translation makes this clear with “Throughout the territory of the Northern Kingdom.” Contemporary English Version is similar with “Everywhere in the northern kingdom of Israel,” and so are Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie with “within all the tribes of the north.”

Then he returned to Jerusalem: After Josiah destroyed all the idols and their altars in the northern kingdom, he went back to Jerusalem.

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 .

Before translating this verse, translators must decide whether this verse refers to one group or two. That is, are Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel the names of the princes who contributed willingly or do they constitute a separate group? The Good News Translation translation is most likely correct in suggesting two different groups. An American Translation, on the other hand, suggests that the three Temple officials are the princes. An American Translation says “His princes also gave as a voluntary gift to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites—Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings—two thousand and six hundred lambs and three hundred cattle.”

And his princes contributed willingly …: In this context the Hebrew word for princes is better rendered “officials” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation) or “nobles” (Moffatt). See the comments on 1 Chr 19.3 and 2 Chr 12.5. Good News Translation leaves out the notion that Josiah’s officials gave willingly, but there is no obvious reason for omitting the idea that these contributions were given “voluntarily” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version).

The Masoretic Text does not have the words lambs and kids near the end of this verse. Some ancient versions add these words in light of the preceding verse, but they are probably not original. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the reading of the Masoretic Text here. However, these words are implied in the Masoretic Text, so they may be added. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh places the words “small cattle” in square brackets as a way of indicating that these words are only implied in the Hebrew.

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 all the vessels of the house of God, great and small …: The words great and small may refer to size or to importance, but the overall effect is to cover all the valuable objects found in the Temple.

The Hebrew word for princes does not refer to the sons of King Zedekiah, but to his “officials” (Good News Translation, New International Version). See the comments on 1 Chr 19.3 and 2 Chr 12.5.

All these he brought to Babylon: The Hebrew verb here may be translated brought (also New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “took” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible), depending on the perspective of the biblical author. If the author was in Judah, then “took” is the appropriate word in English.

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 name Hadad also occurs in the parallel account in Gen 25.15, but some Hebrew manuscripts read “Hadar” because of the commonly confused letters in Hebrew for “d” and “r.”

The Masoretic Text reads Tema. This name occurs five times in the Old Testament. There was a city by this name in northern Arabia (Job 6.19; Isa 21.14; Jer 25.23). It was a major oasis city through which caravans passed. The Septuagint has the name “Teman,” which was a region associated with Edom. This name occurs nineteen times in the Bible. Some modern versions follow the Septuagint here in reading “Teman” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible), but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text, claiming that the name Tema was changed to the better-known name “Teman.”

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 .

After the death of Hezron, Caleb went in to Ephrathah, the wife of Hezron his father, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa: This verse appears to be an explanation of verse 19. The Hebrew of this very difficult verse in the Masoretic Text reads as follows: “And after the death of Hezron in Caleb-ephrathah, and the wife of Hezron [was] Abiyyah, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.” Among the problems are the following:

• (1) It is not certain whether the Hebrew word abiyyah is a woman’s name (Abijah) or whether it is the word for “father” followed by the third person singular pronoun suffix (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), that is, his father.

• (2) It is not clear whether the Hebrew letter for “b” prefixed to the name “Caleb” is a preposition meaning “in” or whether it is an abbreviated form of the verb “to go” or “to go into.”

• (3) If the Hebrew letter for “b” is an abbreviated form of the verb, does it have its literal sense of “to go to a place” or is it an idiom here, meaning “to have sexual intercourse”?

• (4) Is “ephrathah” the name of a woman or the name of a place?

• (5) Is “Caleb” a person’s name or is it part of the place name “Caleb-ephrathah”?

• (6) “Caleb-ephrathah” is not otherwise known in the Old Testament.

It is very difficult to make sense of this verse, and the following interpretations and translations have been proposed:

• (1) Many interpreters, following the Septuagint, understand the Hebrew letter for “b” to be an abbreviation of the Hebrew verb baʾ (“he went”), that is, “Caleb went.” They also take “ephrathah” to be a woman’s name rather than a place name and correct “Abiyyah” to read “his father.” These changes are the basis for the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation renderings (also New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Luther, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous). This reading requires that the Hebrew verb for “he went” be understood in a sexual sense, which is not uncommon (see verse 21). Revised English Bible says Caleb “had intercourse with” Ephrathah (similarly New American Bible). But this translation seems unlikely since the Hebrew text here does not have the normal preposition used with the verb when it is used to mean “have intercourse.” This translation also requires that Ephrathah was married to Caleb’s father, but verse 19 seems to contradict that possibility, unless verse 19 leaves unstated that Hezron had already died. Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible say that Caleb “married” Ephrathah, but even if this basic interpretation is followed, it is going beyond what the Hebrew says to state that he “married” the wife of his dead father. Following this interpretation, verse 24 will be translated as follows: “And after the death of Hezron, Caleb went in to [or, had intercourse with] Ephrathah, the wife of Hezron his father, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.”

• (2) As in the first interpretation, other translations also follow the Septuagint in reading that Caleb “went in” but they do not make the other corrections to the Masoretic Text found in Revised Standard Version (so Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). These translations read the verse as follows: “After the death of Hezron, whose wife was Abijah, Caleb had relations again with Ephrathah, who gave him a son, Ashhur, the founder of Tekoa.” This translation says that the name of Hezron’s wife was “Abijah,” who was perhaps the unnamed daughter of Machir in verse 21.

• (3) Revised English Bible, following the Syriac, does not translate the Hebrew words for “and the wife of Hezron [was] Abiyyah.” It reads “After the death of Hezron, Caleb had intercourse with Ephrathah and she bore him Ashhur the founder of Tekoa.”

• (4) It is possible, however, to make sense of the Masoretic Text, without following the Septuagint or the ancient Syriac. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh does it by saying “After the death of Hezron, in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah, wife of Hezron, bore Ashhur, the father of Tekoa” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, La Bible du Semeur, Nueva Versión Internacional, Reina-Valera revisada, Menge). According to this translation, Ashhur was the son of Hezron and Abijah, and Hezron died before his son Ashhur was born. This is unlike the translations found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, where Ashhur was the son of Caleb and Ephrathah (or Ephrath). Compare also the following La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual rendering, which follows the Masoretic Text: “After Hezron died in Caleb of Ephrathah, his wife Abijah had a son, Ashhur. Ashhur had a son, Tekoa.”

• (5) Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Septuagint text and recommends that the beginning of the verse be translated “And after the death of Hezron, Caleb went to Ephrathah….” With this interpretation a possible rendering for the whole verse is “After the death of Hezron, Caleb went to the town of Ephrathah; and Abijah, the widow of Hezron, gave him a son, Ashhur, the founder of Tekoa.” However, there do not seem to be any modern versions that follow this interpretation recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament.

In addition to the textual and exegetical difficulties in this verse, there is also the minor difference in the spelling of the name Ephrathah (also in verse 50) as compared with the shorter form “Ephrath” in verse 19, if in fact they both refer to a person. Good News Translation harmonizes the spelling, using the shorter form throughout.

As in similar contexts elsewhere in the Old Testament, the word father in the phrase the father of Tekoa is not to be taken literally since Tekoa is the name of a city and not an individual person. This city is best known as the hometown of the prophet Amos. It is probably best to say “founder of the city of Tekoa” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente; similarly Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

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 .