The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal: Sons here must be understood in the sense of “descendants” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New American Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), since only Perez in this list was a son of Judah. Hezron was a son of Perez (see 1 Chr 2.5) and grandson of Judah. Carmi was the son of Zimri and the grandson of Zerah, who was one of Judah’s sons. Probably Zabdi is the same person as Zimri, a son of Zerah (see 1 Chr 2.6). Hur was the son of Caleb (see 1 Chr 2.19), and grandson of Hezron. Shobal was the son of Hur (see 1 Chr 2.50). Good News Translation begins this verse with “These are some of the descendants of Judah…,” since a literal translation of the Hebrew will not express the correct relationships in English. The addition of the words “some of” is intended to highlight the fact that the list does not include all the descendants of Judah. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides another model for trying to make these relationships clear to modern readers by rendering this verse as follows: “The descendants of Judah through his son Perez were in direct line: Hezron, Carmi, Hur, Shobal.” But this translation is not recommended, because these descendants are not in a direct line of descent.

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 .