But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun …: Since the reaction of the Ammonite leaders is somewhat contrary to what might be expected, the common Hebrew conjunction here may be translated But. However, this will depend to some extent on the structuring of the end of verse 2. The princes of the Ammonites were not princes in the literal sense of the English word. They were “officials” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “nobles” (New International Version), “ministers” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée), or “leaders” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version). They may also have been military commanders (see 1 Chr 11.6, where the Hebrew word for princes is rendered “commander”).

Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father?: Do you think is literally “in your eyes.” Parole de Vie translates “in your opinion,” while Bible en français courant and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible say “Do you imagine.” This question and the next one are rhetorical. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh adds the adverb “really” to the verb is honoring to highlight the questioning of David’s sincerity by Hanun’s court officials: “Do you think David is really honoring your father just because he sent you men with condolences?” New Jerusalem Bible also adds the word “really” for the same reason at the beginning of the question, saying “Do you really think David means to honour your father when he sends you messengers with sympathy?” (similarly NET Bible). Another way of dealing with this nuance is to provide an emphatic answer to the question as Good News Translation has done with “Of course not!”

Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?: The order of the verbs search, overthrow, and spy out may seem strange in many languages. According to the Masoretic Text, the object of all three of these verbs is the land. But why would these messengers spy out the land after they had already overthrown it? Therefore some versions change the order of these verbs so that overthrow is the last one (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant). Since the verbs search and spy out are essentially synonyms, some versions combine the two verbs into one verb (so Contemporary English Version).

The Septuagint has “the town” as the object of the verb search. This is the basis for Knopper’s translation of this question: “Is not the purpose to explore the town, to overthrow [it], and to search out the land that his servants have come to you?” This rendering makes logical sense since it is the Ammonite capital city of Rabbah, mentioned later in this chapter in verses 7, 9 and 15, which is overthrown; and then the spies go through the rest of the country. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and others recommend that the spelling of the Hebrew verb rendered overthrow (lahafok) be slightly changed so that it reads “explore” (lachfor). But the best solution is probably to follow the Masoretic Text and recognize that the writer did not put events in strict chronological order.

The force of the two rhetorical questions asked by the Ammonite leaders is to cause hostility and destroy confidence between David and Hanun. These questions imply that David’s intentions are deceitful and that he actually wants to conquer Hanun’s kingdom. In some languages it will be more natural to render them as statements; for example, they may be translated “David is not sending comforters to you because he wants to honor your father. He is just sending them to look at our country so that he can take it over.” Another possible model is “David is sending people only to pretend to show his sorrow, not because he really cared about your father. He only wants to see where our weak points are so that he can defeat us and make us his subjects.”

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 .