Jeroboam’s wife did so: Since the words that follow explicitly state what Jeroboam’s wife did, some translators may find it unnecessarily redundant to translate these words literally. But in other languages it will be quite natural to reflect the redundancy of the Hebrew.

She arose: In Hebrew this does not necessarily mean that she had been sitting or lying down. See the comments on the verb arose in 1 Kgs 2.40 (compare also verse 2).

The first occurrence of the prophet’s name in Hebrew is Ahijah, but the second occurrence in this verse is “Ahijahu” (see the comments on verse 2). Some quite literal translations reflect this difference in the receptor language (for example, La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet), but most use the same spelling consistently. In order to avoid confusing readers, translators should decide on one spelling and use it consistently, even when the Hebrew form changes.

His eyes were dim because of age: The Hebrew verb rendered were dim is used in 1 Sam 4.15 in reference to the eyes of Eli (where Revised Standard Version has “were set”). This verb has a wide range of meanings, including “to stand,” “to continue,” “to be valid,” and “to cost.” Holladay gives the meaning here as “were motionless.” It is not clear whether the Hebrew expression means that he was blind (so Good News Translation) or nearly blind (so Revised Standard Version). Among the various translations in modern versions, one finds “his sight was gone because of his age” (New International Version), “his eyes had become sightless with age” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “his eyes were fixed in the blindness of old age” (Revised English Bible). The rendering “his eyes were fixed because of his age” (Osty-Trinquet) may stay closer to the sense of the Hebrew verb “to stand [motionless],” but it may not be a natural way of expressing the sense in other languages. For the last half of the verse, New Living Translation says “He was an old man now and could no longer see.” Appropriate equivalents will need to be used in the receptor languages.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .