Several things must be said about the interpretation and translation of this verse. In the Hebrew text there is no verb in the words of Benhadad. Many translations supply a verb such as Good News Translation has done with the verb “surrender.” Parole de Vie, for example, begins this verse by saying “Ben-Hadad asks you to give to him….” But if Benhadad is asking here that Ahab surrender his wives and children to Benhadad, then verse 5 seems to be a needless repetition of the same demand. So some interpreters think that here in verse 3, Benhadad is only saying that Ahab must recognize Benhadad’s rule, and that Benhadad is not really expecting Ahab to give his wives and children to Benhadad. (See the further discussion on verses 5 and 7.)

Your silver and your gold are mine: This is a rather forceful way of requiring that King Ahab give up his material wealth to King Benhadad. If a literal rendering like that of Revised Standard Version and most other versions is likely to be misunderstood, then a more directly meaningful translation should be used. Possible models for such a rendering are “I command you to hand over your wealth” and “You must give me your silver and gold.” (International Children’s Bible).

Your fairest wives and children also are mine is literally “your wives and your sons/children the good ones to me them.” It is not clear from the Hebrew syntax whether the adjective rendered “the good ones” refers to both the wives and children (so Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or just to the children (so Good News Translation, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Anchor Bible). The Hebrew adjective for “good” has a wide range of meanings depending on the context, including good in character and value and good in appearance. Some translations of this adjective here focus on the meaning of good in character or value. Compare “strongest” (Good News Translation) and “promising” (New American Bible). Others focus on the meaning of good in appearance. Compare “beautiful” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “fairest” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version).

The Septuagint omits the adjective “good,” and this is followed by Osty-Trinquet, who says simply “your wives and your children are mine.”

The Hebrew word rendered wives may also be translated correctly as “women” as in Good News Translation. But the adult women of Israel would certainly include the married ones and, in fact, the vast majority would be the wives of someone. In many languages, however, the same word is used for both “women” and “wives.”

It may be noted that New Jerusalem Bible corrects the text of this verse to read as follows: “Your silver and gold are mine. Your wives and children remain yours.” New Jerusalem Bible makes part of this correction on the basis of the Septuagint by omitting the word “good.” But there is no evidence for this in the Hebrew manuscripts, and translators are encouraged not to follow New Jerusalem Bible here. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text. Note that New Jerusalem Bible also corrects the Hebrew text in verse 7 to correspond to the correction made here in verse 3. See the more detailed discussion of the problem in verse 7.

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 .