Then King David rose to his feet and said: Instead of King David, Good News Translation uses only the proper name “David” since it has “King David” in the previous verse. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew literally in saying that David rose to his feet. Nouvelle version Segond révisée is similar with “stood up on his legs.” Because such a rendering is considered redundant and unnatural in English, most modern versions leave out any explicit reference to feet or legs, saying simply that he “stood up” (Revised English Bible) or “stood before them” (Good News Translation).

Hear me, my brethren and my people: David may be addressing two different groups: (1) my brethren, referring only to members of his own tribe, and (2) my people, referring to all of the other tribes of Israel. The Targum understood my brethren as the Israelite people and my people as proselytes. However, it is more likely that the two expressions refer to the same group. God had chosen David as king, so the Israelites are his subjects, and he addresses them as my people. But David was also chosen from among them (verse 4) and feels a sense of tribal solidarity with them, so he addresses them as my brethren. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Men of my people, my brothers,” and God’s Word has “my relatives and subjects.” Good News Translation combines the two expressions, saying “My friends.” By using the word “friends,” Good News Translation apparently attempts to avoid the impression of excluding women. Contemporary English Version similarly says “my people.” However, in this context women probably were not included.

I had it in my heart is literally “As for me, with my heart.” It is possible that the first person pronoun for “me” in the Hebrew text gives a stronger contrast than in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation between what David wanted to do and what God wanted (verse 3). The sense may be “As for me, I wanted … 3 but God….” Compare “I wanted, I … 3 but God…” (La Bible de Jérusalem: Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée). In some languages the use of the independent first person singular pronoun before the verb will convey this emphasis. But an expression of emphasis here is probably an overtranslation of the Hebrew grammar.

To build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God: The Covenant Box had been moved from place to place: in the desert, to Gilgal, to Shiloh, among the Philistines, to Kiriath Jearim, and finally to Jerusalem. David wanted to build a house of rest for it in Jerusalem. This phrase may be rendered “a permanent home” (Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; similarly New Living Translation). For the ark of the covenant of LORD, see the comments on 1 Chr 6.31.

Many interpreters consider the footstool of our God to be in apposition to the ark of the covenant of the LORD even though these two phrases are connected by the conjunction and in the Hebrew text (so Good News Translation, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nueva Versión Internacional, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Braun). For this whole clause Revised English Bible has “to build a house as a resting-place for the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD which might serve as a footstool for our God” (similarly Nueva Versión Internacional), and New Century Version says “to build a place to keep the Ark of the Agreement with the LORD. I wanted it to be God’s footstool.” God’s Word has “building the temple where the ark of the LORD’s promise could be placed. This temple would be a stool for our God’s feet.” This translation is not correct. It was the ark that was to become the footstool, not the Temple itself. The image is that of God seated on a throne created by the wings of the cherubim, with his feet resting on the ark itself.

But it is also possible to understand the footstool as referring to the cover of the ark (see verse 11), as the footnote in La Bible du Semeur indicates. If this interpretation is followed, then the ark and the footstool are two separate items.

And I made preparations for building: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered and may be better translated “So” (New Century Version) or “therefore” (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Because of his intention to build a permanent place for the ark, David began to make the necessary preparations for this important work. An alternative model for this clause is “So I started preparing to build a temple.”

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 .