They dwelt in …: Some common language translations have moved the information at the end of verse 31 (concerning the time of King David) forward to the beginning of this verse (so Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). It may also be helpful for the reader if the referent for the pronoun They is made explicit by saying “the descendants of Simeon” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). However, the translation of the first part of this verse in Good News Translation does not capture correctly the meaning of the Hebrew text. According to Good News Translation, Simeon’s descendants lived in the towns listed in verses 28-31 until the time that David became king. But the intended meaning is more likely that at the time of David these town ceased to be part of the territory of Simeon and became a part of Judah. This is the meaning of the statement at the end of verse 31 that these towns were their (the Simeonites) towns until David became king. It will be better to translate verse 28 by saying “The descendants of Simeon lived in…” and keep for the end of verse 31 the statement that these were their cities until David became king. Or translators may say “Until David became king, the following towns belonged to the descendants of Simeon and they lived in them….”

The land and the cities given to the tribe of Simeon are named in Josh 19.2-8. The names of the thirteen cities here correspond to those in Josh 19, with some minor differences. They were all located in the southwest part of territory belonging to the tribe of Judah. In the account in Joshua some of these cities are mentioned in one text as belonging to the tribe of Judah and in other texts as belonging to the tribe of Simeon.

Beer-sheba is well known as being the extreme southernmost city in Israel. It was located in the northern part of the Negev Desert. This area was lost to the Edomites for a while but regained during the time of Nehemiah. The name Beer-sheba in Hebrew means “the well of seven,” and the word for “seven” is related to the word meaning “oath” or “swear an oath” (see Gen 21.31). The towns and villages mentioned in the following verses were all near Beersheba.

Moladah was located in the southern desert of Israel. Josh 19.2 confirms the fact that it was a part of the territory that belonged to the tribe of Simeon; and Neh 11.26 mentions it as one of the cities where some of the people of Judah lived.

Hazar-shual is also mentioned in Josh 15.28 and 19.3 and in Neh 11.27 in connection with Beersheba. This name in Hebrew means “enclosure of the fox.” In Josh 15.26 the name “Shema” comes before Moladah. The Septuagint includes this name here in 1 Chronicles also. This is the basis for Klein’s rendering of this verse, which is “They lived in Beer-sheba, Shema, Moladah, Hazar-shual.”

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 .