The Hebrew particle rendered though may be translated “although” (New Jerusalem Bible), “however” (Good News Translation), or “in fact” (New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

Judah became strong among his brothers: Translators should avoid giving the impression that this clause refers to physical strength. Rather, it concerns Judah’s position in the family, so some may prefer to translate “Judah held the leading place among his brothers” (Revised English Bible). New Living Translation speaks of Judah becoming “the most powerful tribe.” See what his father Jacob said about Judah in Gen 49.8-10. Here Judah represents not only himself, but all the descendants who came from him. For this reason it will be better in some languages to follow the model of Good News Translation by speaking of “the tribe of Judah” (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Among his brothers translates a single Hebrew word. Some scholars change the first letter of this word to read “more than his brothers.” But even without this change of the Hebrew, the sense of the Masoretic Text seems to be that “Judah became more powerful than his brothers” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

And a prince was from him: The word prince refers to King David. The Hebrew noun here also refers to David in 1 Chr 11.2 and 17.7. This noun has a wide range of meaning, referring to people who have widespread influence, from court officials and heads of families, to military officers, and to leaders appointed by God, including high priests and kings. The Hebrew word for prince probably means “designated person” or “proclaimed person,” so it may be rendered “chosen leader” or “designated ruler.” The idea of leadership in this word implies the existence of a people to be led. It is for this reason that some languages must make explicit those who were ruled by this prince. Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch do this by saying “king of Israel.” The Hebrew expression translated was from him contains no verb. New Revised Standard Version understands the text correctly with “came from him.” It may be important in some languages to render this clause as “and a leader came from his family” (New Century Version) in order to avoid giving the impression that this leader was a son of Judah himself. Others may prefer to reorder this clause by saying “and the tribe of Judah was the source of a leader for all the people of Israel.” Bible en français courant is similar with “and it was one of his descendants who became king of Israel.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “and he was the ancestor of the future king.”

Yet the birthright belonged to Joseph is literally “and the birthright to Joseph.” There is no verb in the Hebrew text. Nearly all translations supply the verb belonged (also New Revised Standard Version) or “was” (New Jerusalem Bible). For this whole clause Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “despite this, Joseph was considered the firstborn.” Good News Translation omits the clause because verse 1 has already given this information. However, such repetition may be considered perfectly acceptable in other languages.

According to the usual reading of the Masoretic Text for this verse, the birthright belonged to Joseph even though Judah became the strongest tribe. Some scholars, however, think that the sense of the last clause is that Joseph lost his birthright to Judah. They suggest that a scribe accidentally omitted the words “not to him” in Hebrew before to Joseph. Revised English Bible, for example, corrects the text of the verse to read “Judah held the leading place among his brothers because he fathered a ruler, and the status of the eldest son was his, not Joseph’s” (similarly New English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text here, but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even discuss the Revised English Bible correction since it is not based on any ancient manuscripts.

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 .