But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, Kenath and its villages, sixty towns: Several versions place this sentence in parentheses since it interrupts the list of Machir’s descendants (so New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version).

But renders the common Hebrew conjunction, which is often translated “and.” Revised English Bible and New American Bible leave it untranslated here, but in many languages the context will require that some sort of contrast be indicated. The towns in Gilead had belonged to Jair, but they were taken over by Geshur and Aram. This information is introduced without any time reference in the Hebrew. Some translations relate this episode to the preceding verses by adding the words “Some time later” (Contemporary English Version) or simply “Later” (New Living Translation).

Geshur and Aram were Syrian kingdoms on the north and east borders of Israel. One of King David’s wives was a daughter of King Talmai of Geshur (2 Sam 3.3). A literal translation of the Hebrew here may incorrectly suggest that Geshur and Aram were individuals. Good News Translation avoids this by saying “the kingdoms of Geshur and Aram,” and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “the Geshurites and the Arameans.” Parole de Vie has “the kings of Geshur and Aram” as representatives of their respective kingdoms, while Contemporary English Version speaks of “the nations of Geshur and Aram.” Aram may be translated by the better-known name “the Syrians” (La Bible du Semeur, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous, Menge).

In certain languages the verb took in this context may be better rendered “took control of,” “conquered” (Good News Translation), or “captured” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version). The pronoun them refers to Machir and his descendants mentioned in the previous verses.

Havvoth-jair, Kenath and its villages is literally “Havvoth-jair, Kenath, and its daughters.” Since there is no conjunction “and” between the names of the two towns here, some interpreters consider Kenath and its villages to be in apposition to Havvoth-jair. Most interpreters take the Hebrew sign of the direct object (the word ʾeth) before Kenath as indicating that Kenath was conquered, as was Havvoth-jair. However, it is possible to understand the Hebrew word ʾeth as meaning “with” here. Braun, for example, says that they took from them “Havvoth-jair with Kenath and its villages” (similarly Reina-Valera revisada).

Havvoth-jair may be understood in two different ways. It may be a place name, as in Revised Standard Version. Or Havvoth may mean here “the villages of” (Good News Translation, Reina-Valera revisada, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous; similarly Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), in which case Havvoth-jair refers to the towns owned (or, ruled) by Jair (see verse 22). Other renderings that reflect this understanding are “the Towns of Jair” (New Living Translation) and “the Encampments of Jair” (New Jerusalem Bible, Parole de Vie, Osty-Trinquet). Contemporary English Version is more explicit with “the villages that belonged to Jair.” Either interpretation is possible.

As noted above its villages is literally “its daughters.” The Hebrew word for “daughters” is used figuratively to refer to the smaller towns in the neighborhood of the larger town of Kenath, which provided protection for the smaller towns.

All these were the descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead refers to the people who lived in these towns in Gilead. The Hebrew word for descendants is literally “sons,” but Revised Standard Version gives it the correct sense 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 .