In Josh 19.3-4 Bilhah is called “Balah,” and Tolad is called “Eltolad.” Most versions maintain the difference in spelling, but Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch harmonizes by reading “Balah” and “Eltolad” here as in Joshua.

Ezem, which means “bone” in Hebrew, was considered a part of the territory of both Simeon (Josh 19.3) and Judah (Josh 15.29). This town probably originally belonged to Simeon but was absorbed into Judah when Simeon ceased to exist as a separate group.

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 .

For many fell slain means many of the Hagrites and their allies were killed by the Israelites. The Hebrew particle rendered For may be omitted here. Revised English Bible says “Many Hagrites had been killed.” Some languages may require a different kind of model since they do not naturally use passive expressions in such contexts. If so, it will be reasonable to make the eastern tribes the subject of the clause by saying “The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh killed many Hagrites.” Good News Translation also provides a helpful model: “They [the Israelites] killed many of the enemy.”

Because the war was of God is literally “for from God the war.” There is no verb in the Hebrew, but the meaning is probably “for the war was of God’s making” (Revised English Bible) or “because it was God’s battle” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

And they dwelt in their place means the Israelites lived in the territory that they had captured from the Hagrites. If the Hagrites are the subject of the previous sentence in the receptor language, it may be important to specify the Israelites as the subject of this sentence. Einheitsübersetzung says “The Israelites settled in their place.” Contemporary English Version is more precise with “The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh lived in that territory.”

Until the exile: For the exile, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.6 above. A footnote such as that in Good News Translation may be helpful in other languages. This whole phrase may be translated “until they themselves were taken as prisoners to other lands” (La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual) or “until they were taken as prisoners to Assyria” (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 .

Verses 39-43 are no longer about the clan of Kohath, but about the clan of Gershom. For this reason it is helpful to begin a new paragraph here (so Good News Translation).

And his brother Asaph: The pronoun his refers to Heman (verse 33). In this context the Hebrew word translated brother actually means “relative” (Contemporary English Version) or, more broadly, “colleague” (Bible en français courant) or “helper” (New Century Version). New International Version translates his brother as “Heman’s associate,” while New Living Translation says “Heman’s first assistant.”

Who stood on his right hand: This clause is parallel with “on the left hand” in verse 44. In many languages it will be more natural to say “who stood by his right side.” For the first half of this verse Parole de Vie has “To the right of Heman, there was his colleague Asaph.”

Namely, Asaph the son of Berechiah …: The ancestors of Asaph are listed in verses 39-43, going back to Levi. As in verses 33-38, Good News Translation omits the repetition of son of in these verses, but makes it clear that each successive name refers to an earlier generation by saying that Asaph’s “family line went back to Levi.” In the Hebrew text the name Berechiah is written “Berechyahu” (so Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la 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 .

Good News Translation leaves out the expression with its pasture lands both times in this verse since it provides the same information as an introductory statement in verse 77 (see the comments on verse 66).

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 Helem his brother: Verse 32 says that Heber’s sons were Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham. Then verse 33 lists the sons of Japhlet, followed by verse 34, which lists the sons of Shomer (or, Shemer). Since Helem here in verse 35 is called the brother of Shomer, it seems probable that the text should read “Hotham” (Good News Translation, New Century Version, Moffatt, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) rather than Helem as in the Masoretic Text (so also Revised Standard Version, New International Version, La Bible du Semeur, La Bible Pléiade, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Braun). La Bible Pléiade and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente have footnotes stating that Helem is probably the same person called Hotham in verse 32.

However, Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament notes that while verse 33 ends with the words “these are the sons of Japhlet,” verses 34 and 35 do not end with the words “these are the sons of Shomer” and “these are the sons of Hotham.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament argues that this fact gives support to the spelling of the names in the Masoretic Text, and notes that perhaps Shemer (verse 34) and Helem (verse 35) should not be identified with Shomer and Hotham in verse 32.

The sons of Helem is literally “the son of Helem,” but the sense seems to be that each of the following four persons was a son of Helem (or, Hotham), so Revised Standard Version correctly says sons.

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 .

Azel had six sons … Azrikam, Bocheru …: The Septuagint reads “his firstborn” instead of Bocheru, and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia recommends that the Septuagint be followed here. The consonants in Hebrew (bkrw) are the same for the name Bocheru and for the Hebrew word meaning “his firstborn.” With the vowels in the Masoretic Text, the Hebrew word is the proper name Bocheru. In support of the Septuagint reading is the fact that in the Masoretic Text the last four names are preceded by the conjunction “and” but the name Bocheru is not. If bkrw were a name, we would expect the Masoretic Text to say “and Bocheru.” New Jerusalem Bible follows the Septuagint for this verse as follows: “Azel had six sons, whose names were these: Azrikam, his first born, then Ishmael, Sheariah Obadiah, Hanan. All these were sons of Azel” (similarly Osty-Trinquet). According to this translation, the name of one of Azel’s six sons has dropped out of the list. The original text may have read “his firstborn,” and contained six names. Then once a name was accidentally omitted, a scribe changed “his firstborn” to read Bocheru in order to have six names again.

Some translations read “his firstborn” instead of Bocheru and then add the name “Azariah” before the name Obadiah on the basis of some Septuagint manuscripts (so New American Bible, Klein, Knoppers). Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia recommends that the name “Azariah” should be read in place of the name Sheariah.

In order to bring the total number of Azel’s sons to six, many modern versions interpret the questionable Hebrew word as a proper name like Bocheru (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, An American Translation, Moffatt) rather than a word meaning “his firstborn.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {D} rating to the Masoretic Text, but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the Masoretic Text probably originally had the name “Becher” or “Bichri,” which are typical Benjaminite names, and then under the influence of the Hebrew word for “his first-born” in verse 39, a scribe changed the consonants in verse 38. Then when vowels were added, the name was still written as a name, that is, Bocheru.

Six different persons in the Old Testament have the name Ishmael. Two other men with this same name are mentioned in 2 Chr 19.11 and 23.1. But this is clearly not a reference to the first Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar mentioned in Gen 16.

Hanan is the name of nine different men in the Old Testament. Hanan, the son of Shashak, was mentioned in verse 23; and another Hanan is mentioned in 1 Chr 11.43.

All these were the sons of Azel: Good News Translation omits this repetitive sentence for naturalness in English. Other languages may find this helpful.

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 .

See the comments on 1 Chr 8.33, which is identical with this verse.

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 translates the common Hebrew conjunction and probably provides a better transition than “so” (Good News Translation) since there seems to be a contrast between the behavior of Eleazar and the other Israelite soldiers who had run away. Many modern versions use “But/but” as the transition word here (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible).

He took his stand in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: In the Masoretic Text the verbs rendered he took his stand, defended and slew are plural. The Septuagint has singular verbs, and the parallel text in 2 Sam 23.12 uses the singular, but refers to Shammah, not to Eleazar. Like Revised Standard Version, some other versions read the singular here (so Revised English Bible, New American Bible, La Bible Pléiade, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Reina-Valera revisada). But Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the plural verbs in the Masoretic Text, and the plural should be translated. Good News Translation understands the plural verbs as referring to Eleazar and his men (also Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). More likely, the reference is either to David, Eleazar and the rest of his mighty men or only to Eleazar and David (so New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version).

In the midst of the plot is in the middle of the barley field mentioned in the previous verse. If a translator follows the interpretation that only a part of the field was a barley field, then this phrase may be rendered “in the middle of the portion” (Klein).

And the LORD saved them by a great victory is literally “and the LORD delivered a great deliverance.” Revised Standard Version has added the pronoun them as English requires. The pronoun them refers not to the Philistines, but to David and his men. The whole clause may be rendered “The LORD gave Israel a great victory that day” (Contemporary English Version; similarly International Children’s 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 .