The sons of Samuel: Joel his first-born, the second Abijah: Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation follows the Masoretic Text for this verse, which reads “And the sons of Samuel the first-born Vashni and Abijah.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows the Masoretic Text by saying “The sons of Samuel: his first-born Vashni, and Abijah” (similarly King James Version). However, some interpreters understand the Hebrew word for “Vashni” as two Hebrew words meaning “and” and “the second.” This interpretation of the Hebrew permits the following translation: “And the sons of Samuel: the firstborn and the second, Abijah.” In this interpretation Joel is not named but is only referred to as “the firstborn.”

The difficulty with the Masoretic Text here is that 1 Sam 8.2 names Samuel’s two sons as Joel and Abijah. The Masoretic Text does not have the name Joel here in verse 28. Verse 33, however, speaks of Joel being the “son of Samuel.” Because of verse 33, as well as the evidence from 1 Sam 8.2 and the limited textual evidence (some Greek manuscripts and the Syriac version) including the name of Joel, virtually all modern versions include Joel here even though his name is not in the Hebrew text. In Hebrew the last three letters in the name Samuel are the same as the last three letters in the name Joel. Most likely a scribe accidentally skipped over the name Joel because of the similar endings of the two names.

Another way of correcting the Masoretic Text is that found in New Jerusalem Bible and Bible de Jérusalem, which add the phrase “Sons of Elkanah” at the beginning of the verse and take the word first-born as referring to Samuel himself rather than to Samuel’s first-born son Joel, who is not mentioned in the Masoretic Text here. For this verse New Jerusalem Bible says “Sons of Elkanah: Samuel his first-born, the second Abijah.” This way of correcting the Masoretic Text makes good sense, but the translations found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are most likely closer to the original text.

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text and suggests that an error occurred very early in the history of the text. The ancient Greek and Syriac translations do not really show a knowledge of an earlier form of the Masoretic Text; they are simply attempts to make sense of the Masoretic Text by correcting it. Even so, since the text as we have it today obviously contains an error here, it is better to correct it as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done.

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 .