Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 1:22

Instead of Ebal, some Hebrew manuscripts as well as the ancient Syriac version read “Obal” (so New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nueva VersiĂłn Internacional), which is the spelling of the name in the parallel passage in Gen 10.28 (see the comments on 1 Chr 1.6). This problem is not dealt with by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament. There is no real difference in meaning. Ebal is simply a variant spelling of the name “Obal,” so translators may choose to use the same spelling in the receptor language here and in Gen 10.28.

For Sheba see the comments on 1 Chr 1.9.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:17

Abigail bore Amasa: Since the previous verse indicates that Zeruiah and Abigail were sisters, Good News Translation adds the words “His other daughter” in order to help the reader keep clear the identity of Abigail, but also to retain the focus on Jesse. Like his cousins Abishai, Joab and Asahel, Amasa was a commander of David’s army (see 2 Sam 19.13).

And the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite: The Hebrew does not actually state that Abigail and Jether married, but Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente restructure the verse and make this explicit. This restructuring may state more than the Hebrew intends, although 2 Sam 17.25 seems to indicate that they were married. A better model for this verse is “Abigail had a son, Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite” (Bible en français courant).

According to 2 Sam 17.25, the name of Amasa’s father was “Ithra” instead of Jether. Furthermore, the Masoretic Text of 2 Sam 17.25 says that Ithra was an Israelite rather than an Ishmaelite. Scholars have suggested several ways to explain these differences between 2 Samuel and this verse in 1 Chronicles. Regardless of how the differences may be explained, translators should follow the Masoretic Text here in verse 17.

The definite article in the phrase the Ishmaelite may be misleading, but it is probably used to refer to a person well known to the Israelite readers as having his origin outside their group. It is probably better in most languages to translate “an Ishmaelite” (New Living Translation, New Century Version) or “a descendant of Ishmael” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

La Biblia: TraducciĂłn en Lenguaje Actual provides a possible model for the format of verses 13-17 as follows:

• Jesse had seven sons:
Eliab,
Aminadab,
Shimea,
Nethanel,
Raddai,
Ozem,
David.

Jesse also had two daughters:
Zeruiah,
Abigail.

Zeruiah had three sons:
Abishai,
Joab,
Asahel.

Abigail married Jether the Ishmaelite, and had a son, Amasa.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:55

The families also of the scribes that dwelt at Jabez …: This verse begins in Hebrew with the common conjunction, which seems to link this verse with the previous one as a continuation of the descendants of Salma. The word also in Revised Standard Version expresses this continuation. Good News Translation, however, places this verse within parentheses since the peoples listed here do not seem to have any connection to the descendants of Caleb. Moreover, they are called Kenites, that is, descendants of Cain. Earlier texts in Genesis, Judges, and 1 Samuel refer to the Kenites as non-Israelites. The Kenites are mentioned, for example, in Gen 15.19 as being among those people whose land the LORD would give to the descendants of Abraham (see also Jdg 4.11). But for the author of 1 Chronicles, these people were apparently considered as part of the tribe of Judah.

As in verse 53, the word families is better rendered “clans” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “family groups.”

The Hebrew word rendered scribes is sopherim. However, it may be read as a name and transliterated; for example, New American Bible begins this verse with “The clans of the Sopherim,” and Revised English Bible has “The clans of Sophrites” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction Ĺ“cumĂ©nique de la Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Osty-Trinquet). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reads “These clans had come from Sopher.” If the word sopherim is understood to mean “scribes,” then it may be helpful in the receptor language to translate this word by making the function clear. Good News Translation, for example, says that they were “experts in writing and copying documents.” Apparently the scribal profession was passed down from father to son. Some cities in the ancient Near East were well-known centers of scribal learning, and it is possible that Jabez was such a city.

The Tirathites, the Shime-athites, and the Sucathites are sometimes thought to be clans that performed some religious functions, as did the clans of the scribes, but nothing is really known of these people. They were from the Kenite people.

These are the Kenites who came from Hammath: The meaning of Hammath is not clear. It may be a place name. But the only other place called Hammath in the Old Testament was located in the territory of Naphtali (see Josh 19.35), in the heartland of Galilee, not in the territory of Judah. Others take the Hebrew word for Hammath not as a place name but as a word that comes from the root words for “father-in-law” and “mother-in-law,” with the meaning “family-in-law.” This interpretation is the basis for the Good News Translation rendering “who had intermarried with” (similarly Revised English Bible). Most translations take Hammath as the name of a man, and this seems to be the most likely interpretation.

The father of the house of Rechab: The Hebrew word for house is beth. It is not clear in this context whether this word is part of a place name, “Beth-rechab,” or whether it means “house” and refers to a tribal group. Some translations treat this word as part of a place name; for example, Braun renders this whole phrase as “the father of Beth-rechab,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “the ancestor of Beth-Rechab.” Others take it as a reference to “the Rechabites” (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant), who observed certain vows and believed that the only correct way to worship God was by living as nomads (see Jer 35.6-10).

Recognizing the many difficulties in interpreting this verse, we recommend the following model:

• And the clans of the scribes who lived in the town of Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These were the Kenites who descended from Hammath, the founder of the city of Beth-Rechab.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 4:12

Eshton was the father of Bethrapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah: Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew by starting a new sentence here and repeating the name of Eshton, but Good News Translation begins with a relative clause and continues the sentence begun in the previous verse. Either structure is acceptable, and translators should simply follow whichever is more natural in their own language.

Bethrapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah were clearly male according to the end of this verse, so Good News Translation correctly says “three sons.”

The father of Irnahash: The Hebrew word Ężir at the beginning of the name Irnahash means “town” or “city.” So it is better to translate “the city of Nahash” (Good News Translation) rather than Irnahash, as if this were a person’s name. As in previous verses, father of here means “founder of.” So Contemporary English Version translates “It was Tehinnah who settled the town of Nahash.” New Century Version is similar with “Tehinnah was the father of the people from the town of Nahash.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente provides yet another model, saying that Tehinnah was “founder of Ir-Nahash.” Almost all translations transliterate the Hebrew word nahash, but Peregrino translates the meaning of the name in a footnote as “Serpent City.” Since the Hebrew word for “copper/bronze” is related to the word for “snake,” some interpreters think the reference is to a place called “city of copper.” This interpretation is apparently the basis for Peterson’s rendering “who founded Ir Nahash (City of Smiths)” in The Message. He places the words “City of Smiths” within parentheses, but this interpretation is not recommended.

These are the men of Recah: Some scholars have suggested that the Masoretic Text has an error here and that the text originally referred not to a place named Recah, but to a man named “Rechab,” who is mentioned in 1 Chr 2.55. If this identification is accepted, then the reference may be to the Rechabites rather than to a place. In fact, one Septuagint manuscript, followed by Osty-Trinquet and Klein, reads “Rechab” here. But the evidence for this identification is far too weak to justify translating in this way. The meaning of this sentence is almost certainly “The descendants of these men lived in Recah” (Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje; similarly 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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 5:6

Whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away into exile (verse 6): Tilgath-pilneser transliterates the name of the Assyrian king here (so also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). 2 Kgs 15.29 also tells of a deportation by “Tiglath-pileser,” as he is called there. Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant, Peregrino, and most other versions use this better-known form of the name here instead of Tilgath-pilneser. For additional information regarding this king of Assyria, see the comments on verse 26. Carried away into exile translates a single Hebrew verb. It is a causative form of the verb meaning “to remove” or “to depart.” In some contexts it has been translated “deported.” In this context the sense is clearly that Tiglath Pileser moved Beerah away from his home to another place against his will. In some languages it may be necessary to say “forced him to go to Assyria” or “made him leave his country.” New Century Version makes explicit what is only implicit in the text, namely, the Assyrian king “captured him” before he “took him away.”

He was a chieftain of the Reubenites (verse 6): Be-erah was a leader of the tribe of Reuben. The Hebrew word translated chieftain may be rendered “prince” (Revised English Bible, American Bible) or “leader” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version), which is a better model.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 6:22

The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son: Kohath was one of Levi’s sons (verses 1, 16). Verses 2 and 18 list sons of Kohath, but neither list includes a son called Amminadab. Perhaps the sons listed here should be understood as “descendants” (so Good News Translation). Exo 6.21 lists Korah as the son of Izhar, not as the son of Amminidab, and certain scholars have suggested that Izhar and Amminadab are names for the same person. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint read “Izhar” in place of Amminadab here, and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia recommends that the text be corrected to read “Izhar.” But this reading is probably a correction based on the passage in Exodus. As in verses 4-15 and 20-21, Good News Translation restructures verses 22-24 to avoid repeating the words his son. Contemporary English Version also does this by combining these verses.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 6:65

They also gave them by lot …: For by lot, see the comments on verse 61.

These cities which are mentioned by name refers to the cities mentioned previously in verses 54-60. Some may prefer to translate “the cities that have already been named” or “the towns that were mentioned above” (similarly New Living Translation).

The information contained in this verse is considered parenthetical by Good News Translation and Revised English Bible. But most modern versions find the parentheses unnecessary in this case.

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 .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 7:19

The sons of Shemida were …: As in other verses in this passage, Good News Translation gives the number of sons before listing the names. Shemida is named in Num 26.32 as one of the sons of Gilead, although he is mentioned here with no introduction. Some interpreters have suggested that Shemida may have been the fourth son of Hammolecheth. Klein, in fact, translates verse 18 as “And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, Mahlah, and Shemida.”

The name “Helek” occurs in Num 26.30 as a son of Gilead; perhaps the name Likhi was created in the place of Helek by a scribe who accidentally reversed the consonants. But since this is only a guess, translators should retain the form Likhi in this verse. But a footnote may be added to inform the reader that Helek is used in Numbers.

Since Shemida and his sons are mentioned here with no clear connection to the preceding verses, Good News Translation places this verse within parentheses.

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 .