These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash: In the Masoretic Text this sentence is literally “And these [were] the father [ʾabi in Hebrew] of Etam: Jezreel and Ishma and Idbash.” Since this text seems to make no sense, interpreters have interpreted or corrected it in various ways as follows:

• (1) Some reconstruct it to read “These were the descendants of Hareph, the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash” (New American Bible). There is no real textual evidence for this reconstruction, but it is based on harmonizing verse 3 with verse 4 and 1 Chr 2.51, which refer to the descendants of Hur. Similar in some ways is Klein’s suggested reconstruction, which reads “These are the sons of Hareph, the father of Beth-gader: X the father of Etam, Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash.” Klein assumes that the name of Etam’s father is missing, so he simply puts the letter “X” in the text where the name should be. In 1 Chr 2.51 Hareph is named as a son of Hur and the father of Beth-gader.

• (2) On the basis of the end of verse 4, some interpreters consider Hur to be the father or grandfather of Etam. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “These are the sons of Hur: the father of Etam, Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash”; that is, four persons are listed as the sons of Hur, including the father of Etam. Luther is similar with “And these are the sons of Hur, the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, Idbash.” Osty-Trinquet follows this same interpretation but places the words “the sons of Hur” within square brackets to show that they are not in the Masoretic Text but have been added in the translation. Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which says “These were [the sons of] the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash.”

• (3) Others have taken the Hebrew word ʾabi (“father”) as part of a person’s name. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, reads “These are Abi-Etam, Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash.”

• (4) Others follow the ancient versions in reading “The sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, Idbash” (Revised English Bible; similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation restructures verses 3 and 4 by combining them. The information at the end of verse 4 is moved to the beginning, and Ephrathah (“Ephrath”) is identified as “Caleb’s wife” on the basis of 1 Chr 2.19. Then Etam, Penuel, and Ezer are grouped together as “three sons” of Hur. Finally Penuel and Ezer are identified as the founders of the cities of Gedor and Hushah.

• (5) Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text and says that the sense of “father” here is “clan founder of a town” as in 1 Chr 2.42. This interpretation is recommended by the Handbook. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests the following translation: “These are the people who are the origin of the population of Etam: Jezreel….” Compare “The founders of Etam were Jezreel…” (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). A city named Etam, located 3.5 kilometers (about 2 miles) southwest of Bethlehem, is mentioned in 2 Chr 11.6.

Gedor was a town located in the hill country of Judah about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Hebron. The town of Hushah was also located in the hill country of Judah, a few kilometers southwest of Bethlehem (see 2 Sam 21.18; 23.27). Bethlehem was a town located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of Jerusalem. This, of course, is the town best known as the birthplace of Jesus, and is also known as Ephrathah after its founder (see Micah 5.2).

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 .