And commanded Judah: Commanded is literally “said” (Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but the translation of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is justified by the context. This verb may also be rendered “ordered” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Osty-Trinquet). Judah is singular but its sense is collective here, so it may be translated “the people of Judah” (Good News Translation) or “the Judeans” (Bible en français courant).

To seek the LORD means to try to know and do God’s will in this context (see the comments on 1 Chr 16.10-11 and 2 Chr 11.16). The words “seek” and “sought” occur several times in the account of King Asa, and they imply faithfulness. In some contexts the same Hebrew expression means “to ask for Yahweh’s guidance or help” (see, for example, 2 Chr 16.12).

The God of their fathers may be rendered “the God their ancestors worshiped.”

And to keep the law and the commandment: The Hebrew noun rendered commandment is singular, indicating the general character of the recommendation here. But use of the singular in translation may incorrectly suggest that the reference is to a single specific commandment. Therefore many versions use the plural “commands” (Good News Translation, New American Bible) or “commandments” (Revised English Bible). Since the law and the commandment refers to God’s laws and commandments, translators may make this explicit by saying “his teachings and commands” (Good News Translation) or “his law and commands” ( NET 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 .

Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house: This verse begins in Hebrew with the common conjunction. Revised Standard Version understands the connection with the previous verse to be primarily temporal (Then), but Good News Translation shows Asa’s actions to be a result (“So”) of the blockade by Baasha of Israel. Either translation is possible and both make good sense in this context. The house of the LORD refers to “the Temple” (Good News Translation). The king’s house may be translated “the palace” (Good News Translation) if the receptor language has a special word for the residence of a king.

And sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus: Benhadad (known as Benhadad I) was the king of Syria early in the ninth century B.C. Syria is literally “Aram” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version; see the comments on 1 Chr 18.5). Damascus was the capital of Syria.

The Hebrew expression translated saying may have to be rendered as a separate sentence in some languages. The simplest way to do this is to follow the model of New Century Version, which has “Asa said.” Others may prefer to say more explicitly “Asa sent the following message.”

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 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel: Since Jehoshaphat was the last speaker in the previous verse, some languages may require a different verb than said here to introduce his additional remark. Good News Translation and New Living Translation use the verb “added,” while New Century Version translates “also said.” Contemporary English Version simply omits this introductory statement and continues the quotation of Jehoshaphat’s words from verse 3.

Inquire first for the word of the LORD means find out first what God’s will is in this matter. Good News Translation changes the focus here somewhat by rendering Inquire as “let’s consult” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible), which makes the inquiry a joint effort. But it is better to follow Revised Standard Version here, which more closely expresses the sense of the Hebrew in which King Jehoshaphat tells the king of Israel what the latter should do. The Masoretic Text has the Hebrew particle of entreaty following the verb Inquire. This particle is often translated “please” or “I pray” (see the comments on 1 Chr 21.8). Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation attempts to express the force of this particle. Moffatt renders it by translating this whole clause as “But first of all … pray find out what the Eternal has to say,” but this is archaic-sounding English. A more natural English rendering is “Please, first find out what the LORD has to say.” If there is a natural way of translating this particle in the receptor language, this nuance of meaning should be preserved.

First is literally “as the day.” This expression may be rendered “right now,” “today” (Jewish Publication Version), or “before we do anything else.”

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 .

Nevertheless some good is found in you: Nevertheless translates a relatively uncommon Hebrew particle that marks contrast. In spite of the wrong that Jehoshaphat had done, the prophet sees some good in him. Other contrastive conjunctions used here are “However” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “Yet” (New American Bible), and “But” (New Century Version). Some good is found in you is more literally “good things [plural] are found in you.” This passive expression will have to be made active in some languages. New Century Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say simply “there is some good in you,” and God’s Word has “you’ve done some good things.” Contemporary English Version uses a negative expression, saying “not everything about you is bad.”

The Hebrew conjunction rendered for in the middle of this verse introduces the specific positive contributions made by King Jehoshaphat. In some languages it may be better left untranslated (so Good News Translation).

You destroyed the Asherahs out of the land: See 2 Chr 17.6. The Hebrew verb rendered destroyed has a range of meanings, including “to sweep away,” “to remove,” and “to devastate.” Regarding the Asherahs, see the comments on 2 Chr 14.3. The land refers to the southern kingdom of Judah.

And have set your heart to seek God: See the comments on 2 Chr 11.16. This clause may be rendered “and made up your mind to worship God” (Moffatt) or “and you have committed yourself to obeying God” (similarly New Living Translation). A rendering that emphasizes even more strongly the habitual nature of this decision is “and have made a practice of obeying God” (similarly Revised English Bible). In languages that have habitual verb forms, such a form will be appropriate 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 and other handbooks for translators see here .

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil from them is literally “And he went, Jehoshaphat and his people, to plunder their spoil.” As often happens in the context of war, the Hebrew word translated people refers to soldiers and not to citizens. New Century Version renders his people as “his army,” while others have “his men” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). The Hebrew word rendered spoil refers to the various articles of value that soldiers of a victorious army would take from the defeated enemy (see the comments on 1 Chr 20.2). Other possible technical renderings are “plunder” (New International Version, New American Bible), “booty” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), and “loot” (Good News Translation, God’s Word). Simpler ways of expressing the meaning are “valuables” (New Century Version) and “everything of value” (Contemporary English Version).

They found cattle in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things: In the Masoretic Text this clause is literally “And they found among them in great number, goods, dead bodies, and precious things.” There are two significant textual problems here as follows:

(1) Instead of cattle, which is the reading in the Septuagint, the Masoretic Text has “among them.” The Hebrew words for “among them” (bahem) and “cattle” (behemah) are similar, with the word for cattle having an additional final consonant. The Vulgate, which follows the Masoretic Text, translates “among them” as “among the dead bodies.” A number of modern versions also follow the Masoretic Text reading (so New International Version, NASB, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Nouvelle Bible Segond). However, many other modern translations follow the Septuagint here by saying “cattle” (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Moffatt, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “livestock” (New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating for the reading “cattle,” arguing that elsewhere in 2 Chronicles (14.15 and 32.5), a similar construction is found in which the Hebrew word translated in great numbers is preceded by the noun that it qualifies.
(2) Instead of clothing, which is the reading in a few Hebrew manuscripts and the Vulgate, the Masoretic Text has “dead bodies.” The Hebrew words for “dead bodies” (pegarim) and “clothing” (begadim) are similar. If the reading in the Masoretic Text is followed (so King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Nouvelle Bible Segond, La Bible de Jérusalem: Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée), the most likely meaning is that the articles of value were found “among the dead bodies.” But the reading with “clothing,” which is given a {C} rating by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, fits the context better. The word for “dead bodies” was probably written by mistake under the influence of the preceding verse, which has that word.

Precious things may be rendered specifically as “precious jewels” (An American Translation) or “precious ornaments” (Knox), or more generally as “valuables” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “articles of value” (Revised English Bible).

Which they took for themselves until they could carry no more: God’s Word renders this relative clause as a separate sentence by saying “They found more than they could carry.”

They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much: This sentence may be restructured by saying “There were so many valuable things that it took the army of Judah three days just to gather it all.”

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 this is literally “And it was afterward.” Presumably this expression means following the marriage of Joash to the two women and their bearing several children. So the time period involved would be a matter of years and not just weeks or months. This expression may be rendered “Some time later” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje).

Joash decided is literally “there was with the heart of Joash.”

To restore the house of the LORD: Since the Temple was built during the reign of Solomon, it was now more than 120 years old. Joash did not do the manual labor required to repair the Temple. For this reason Good News Translation and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje render this clause as “to have the Temple repaired.” To translate this idea some languages will use a causative verb form.

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 .

But Amaziah took courage: But renders the common Hebrew conjunction as a contrastive connector. Even though Amaziah lost the help of the Israelite troops, he still had confidence to attack the Edomites. It is also possible to understand this conjunction as a temporal connector (so New Living Translation with “Then”). The expression took courage renders a reflexive verb in Hebrew that is literally “strengthened himself” (NASB). It may be rendered “acted with renewed confidence” (similarly Knox) or “became very brave” (New Century Version).

And led out his people, and went to the Valley of Salt: As is often true in military contexts in the Old Testament, the Hebrew noun for people may be rendered “army” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). The Valley of Salt was a wide valley running south from the Dead Sea. It is also mentioned in 1 Chr 18.12 as the place where Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, killed eighteen thousand Edomites (see the comments there).

And smote ten thousand men of Seir: The archaic verb smote is better rendered “killed” (Good News Translation) in English. This verb is third person singular in Hebrew, so Amaziah is the subject. But the sense is that he led his men in killing the Edomites, not that he himself killed them. The context of this verse implies that the Edomites were killed in battle, not that they were massacred. For this reason Good News Translation makes explicit the fact that “they fought.” Seir was a mountain range that ran the length of the region of Edom, southeast of Judah. Sometimes in the Old Testament Seir is used as a synonym for the name Edom (see the comments on 1 Chr 4.42 and 2 Chr 20.10). Instead of the less well-known name Seir, many modern versions use the name “Edom/Edomite” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Bible en français courant). New Living Translation has both names by rendering men of Seir as “Edomite troops from Seir.”

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 .