And they sent and called him: The pronoun they may be translated as indefinite (Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or a passive expression may be used here; for example, New American Bible says “Jeroboam was summoned to the assembly.” But the pronoun may also be taken to refer specifically to “all Israel” (verse 1) and translated “The people of the northern tribes” (Good News Translation) or “The people from the northern tribes of Israel” (Contemporary English Version). Although the Hebrew uses two verbs in the expression sent and called him, only one action is intended, so Good News Translation says simply “sent for him,” and New Living Translation has “summoned him.” In an effort to communicate the immediacy of the action, New Jerusalem Bible says “now sent for him,” and Revised English Bible has “now recalled him.”

And all Israel came: See the comments on 2Chr 10.1.

And said to Rehoboam is literally “and they said to Rehoboam saying.” This redundancy will be avoided in many languages. The verb said may be translated “complained” since the following quotation indicates that the speakers were not happy with their situation. Others may prefer the verb “proposed” since the quotation also contains a proposition.

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 he dealt wisely, and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities: Since the previous verse mentions both Rehoboam and Abijah, Good News Translation replaces the pronoun he with the name “Rehoboam” in order to avoid ambiguity in English. The same is done by Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, and New Century Version. The Hebrew verbs rendered dealt wisely and distributed do not refer to two separate actions. Rather, Rehoboam acted wisely by appointing his sons as commanders of the fortified cities. By having his own sons in these fortified cities, there was less chance of the cities turning against him. Compare Revised English Bible, which says “He showed prudence in detailing his sons to take charge of all the fortified towns throughout the whole territory of Judah and Benjamin.” Nouvelle Bible Segond has “He had the wisdom to distribute all his sons in all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities” (similarly An American Translation, La Bible Pléiade). Perhaps another reason for appointing these sons to the various fortified cities was to make the way more secure for Abijah to succeed him so that the other brothers would not be present to challenge him.

The precise sense of the Hebrew verb rendered distributed is not entirely clear, but the intended meaning is probably that one son was put in charge of each fortified city. This interpretation is made explicit in Contemporary English Version, which says “Rehoboam was wise enough to put one of his sons in charge of each fortified city in his kingdom.”

Some of his sons is literally “from all his sons.” The Hebrew most likely means that he appointed some of his sons, but not all of them. Use of the word some (also New Revised Standard Version, Anchor Bible) or “various” (New American Bible) clearly means that not all of his sons were stationed in these cities. Moffatt says “his other sons.” Some versions have simply “his sons” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

For the fortified cities, see verses 5-12.

And he gave them abundant provisions: The Hebrew word translated provisions is a general word that usually refers to food, but in this context it may also refer to weapons of war. Most versions use a general word such as provisions (also New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible), but New Jerusalem Bible uses the specific word “food.”

And procured wives for them: The Masoretic Text says “and asked for many wives” (wayyisheʾal hamon nashim in Hebrew). All of the ancient versions except the Syriac agree with the Masoretic Text here. The Syriac seems to understand the text to mean that Rehoboam wanted many wives for himself. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text, but states that the Masoretic Text probably contains an error. Unfortunately, any attempt to correct the Masoretic Text is only a guess at what the text originally read. Some interpreters think that the Hebrew words translated “and asked for many wives” originally read “and took for them wives” (wayyissaʾ lahem nashim; so Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, La Bible Pléiade). According to this interpretation, the reading in the Masoretic Text is the result of a scribe’s having divided the Hebrew words wayyissaʾ lahem incorrectly and then mistakenly copying the letter for “n” twice.

The Masoretic Text may mean that Rehoboam took many wives for himself, in which case this statement is simply a summary of verse 21. But without correcting the Masoretic Text, it is more likely that the intended sense is either that he got one wife for each son or that he got several wives for each son. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are ambiguous, as is the Hebrew, but most likely the intended meaning is that each son had several wives. Compare New Living Translation, which says “and arranged for each of them to have several wives.”

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 .

Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: The Hebrew noun for people may be rendered “army” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant) in this context (see the comments on 1 Chr 11.13). Slew them with a great slaughter is literally “struck them with a great striking.” New International Version translates “inflicted heavy losses on them.” Some languages may use a causative expression, such as “caused them to lose many soldiers” or “caused many of their army to die.”

So there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand picked men: So is an appropriate translation of the common Hebrew conjunction because it serves here as a logical connector. For fell slain, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.22. Good News Translation renders five hundred thousand as a “half a million.” According to verse 3, the Israelite army began the battle with 800,000 soldiers. For picked men, see the comments on 2Chr 13.3.

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 they entered into a covenant: For covenant see the comments on 1 Chr 11.3. It will be important in this verse to make it clear whether this covenant was an agreement that the people made with each other or, more likely, one that they made with the king. The expression entered into a covenant is a literal rendering of the text, although the Hebrew often uses the expression “cut a covenant.” It will be more natural in many languages to say “made an agreement” (New Century Version, God’s Word) or “made a solemn promise” (Contemporary English Version).

To seek the LORD: See the comments on 2 Chr 11.16. This clause may be rendered “to worship the LORD” (Good News Translation) or “to obey the LORD” (New Century Version).

The God of their fathers is more accurately rendered “the God of their ancestors” (Good News Translation) in this context.

With all their heart and with all their soul: See the comments on 2 Chr 6.38, where the Hebrew phrase here is rendered “with all their mind and with all their heart.” In this context it indicates the manner in which the people would follow the LORD. It may be rendered “wholeheartedly” (Revised English Bible) or “with their whole being” (New Century 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 .

This was the muster of them by fathers’ houses: The English word muster is a technical term referring to the registration or enrollment of military personnel. But the Hebrew noun here has a wider range of meanings, including “list of personnel and their duties,” which may include military duties, as it does here. This was the muster of them may be expressed in more common language as “These soldiers were listed” (New Century Version) or “Here is a listing of them” (Complete Jewish Bible). By fathers’ houses means the listing was done by clans. For fathers’ houses, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.13. In many languages this literal expression is better rendered “ancestral clans” (New Living Translation), “family groups” (La Bible du Semeur), or simply “families” (God’s Word, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Bible en français courant renders this whole clause as “These soldiers were grouped according to their family of origin.”

Of Judah, the commanders of thousands …: A list of commanders follows according to clans, beginning with those from the tribe of Judah (verses 14b-16) and concluding with those from the tribe of Benjamin (verses 17-18). Commanders of thousands seems to be the most natural understanding of the Hebrew words here. Some other renderings that express this sense are “chiefs of thousands” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “commanders of units of 1,000” (New International Version). For this whole phrase New Century Version has “From the families of Judah, these were the commanders of groups of a thousand men.” It is also possible to understand the Hebrew to mean “There were a thousand officers from Judah” ( NET Bible), but this is unlikely given the context.

Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty men of valor: The first commander in the list is Adnah, who had 300,000 soldiers under his command.

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 Micaiah said: The verb said may be translated “replied” (New Living Translation) because of the context. But it may be replaced with a stronger verb such as “cried out” (La Bible du Semeur), “declared” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), or “exclaimed” (Good News Translation).

If you return in peace is literally “If to return you return in peace.” The Hebrew construction here is emphatic. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible keeps the emphasis by saying “If you truly return safe and sound.”

The LORD has not spoken by me may be rendered “it will mean the LORD has not spoken through me” (New Living Translation).

And he said means Micaiah continued speaking in the second half of this verse. In some languages the intrusion of these words may be considered superfluous (so New Century Version and God’s Word, which omit them), but because the prophet addresses a different audience, it is better to translate them. In order to show that Micaiah is talking to the entire group there, some may prefer to translate “Then he told the crowd.”

Hear, all you peoples!: These words of the prophet Micaiah are identical to the first words of the prophet Micah (see Micah 1.2). Many interpreters think that these words were added here in 2 Chronicles to the original Hebrew text by a scribe who incorrectly identified this Micaiah with the prophet Micah of Moresheth. (The two Hebrew names are different forms of the same name.) For this reason a number of modern versions omit the last sentence of this verse (so Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt) or place it within square brackets (so Osty-Trinquet). In the parallel passage of 1 Kgs 22.28, the Septuagint omits this sentence. However, here in 2 Chronicles the Septuagint omits only the Hebrew verb translated And he said. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament thinks that the Septuagint omitted this Hebrew verb since it seemed unnecessary, so Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text.

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 .

Tomorrow go down against them may be rendered “Tomorrow march down against them” (New International Version, NET Bible). The downward direction is significant here since the enemy army would be coming up a mountain pass.

Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz: The Hebrew particle rendered behold directs the attention of King Jehoshaphat and his people toward the new information that the enemy army would be climbing the narrow mountain pass at Ziz, so it would be vulnerable to attack. The ascent of Ziz, which was located in the region of Tekoa (verse 20) about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) south of Jerusalem, was a road that went up more than 325 meters (1,065 feet) from Engedi in the direction of Jerusalem over the distance of more than 1,600 meters (5,250 feet), but only about 800 meters (2,625 feet) “as the crow flies.” This road taken by the enemy troops was steep and difficult, but it was the shortest route from Moab to Judah. La Bible du Semeur, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and La Bible Pléiade speak of “the mountain of the Flower” since the Hebrew word Ziz means “flower” or “blossom.” Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie are similar with “the slope of Flowers.” The term Ziz is sometimes transliterated with the Hebrew definite article on it as “Haziz” (Moffatt) or “Hassis” (Anchor Bible). The ascent of Ziz has often been identified with the Wadi Hasasah, but this identification is no longer widely accepted.

You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel: This clause does not mean that the enemy army was lost, but rather that the place mentioned here would be the point at which the two armies would meet. So it may be better to translate find them as “meet them” (Contemporary English Version) or “encounter them” (Bible en français courant). Jeruel was an area of the Judean wilderness. It was on the west shore of the Dead Sea, north of Engedi and south of Tekoa. The Hebrew term for wilderness refers to an uninviting area where people prefer not to live (see the comments on 1 Chr 12.8). It is frequently translated “desert” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, God’s Word, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

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 have walked in the way of the kings of Israel: See the comments on 2Chr 21.6. But correctly renders the common Hebrew conjunction. Here it marks the contrast between the behavior of Jehoshaphat and Asa in verse 12 and that of Jehoram in this verse. La Bible du Semeur begins with “On the contrary.”

And have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness: See the comments on verse 11.

As the house of Ahab led Israel into unfaithfulness: As in verse 6, the house of Ahab refers to the successors of King Ahab and not just his immediate family.

And also you have killed your brothers, of your father’s house: See verse 4. Of your father’s house may be a misleading expression. This phrase may be rendered “members of your father’s household,” “sons of your own father,” or “your own family” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Who were better than yourself: The brothers of Jehoram were morally better than he was. Their moral superiority may be made explicit by saying “who were more righteous than you are.”

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 .