But: The Hebrew begins with the verbal transition meaning “And it happened.” Here it marks a change in the direction of the story. This may be indicated in other languages by the use of a contrasting conjunction such as But or “however” (New American Bible).

In the third year …: It seems that the Hebrew has not presented the events in verses 2-4 in strict chronological order. Most likely, in the third year while there was peace between Israel and Syria (verse 2a), Ahab discussed the situation with his officials (verse 3), and then when Jehoshaphat went to visit Ahab (verse 2b), Ahab invited Jehoshaphat to join him in attacking the Syrians (verse 4). Moffatt, in fact, restructures these verses and places verse 2b at the end of verse 3 in order to reflect this chronological order.

Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel: For Jehoshaphat see 1 Kgs 15.24. In some languages “to go up” means “to go north” and “to go down” means “to go south.” But here the verb came down refers to height and not direction, and in fact, the king of Judah traveled to the north and not the south. The difference in altitude between Jerusalem and Samaria was more than 300 meters (985 feet). For this reason the author uses the verb came down. The Hebrew verb here may be rendered came down or “went down,” depending on the perspective of the writer. Or it may be more natural in some languages to use an expression such as “came to visit” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “went to see” (Good News Translation), which is more neutral with respect to altitude. New Jerusalem Bible translates “paid a visit.”

Some translations identify the king of Israel by name as “Ahab” since there is both a new chapter and a new section here (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Walsh notes that “[m]any historians of Israel … are convinced that the incidents recounted in chapters 20 and 22 reflect relations between Israel and Aram not during Ahab’s reign but several decades later. If that is the case, stories originally told of some subsequent king have been transferred to Ahab for literary rather than historical purposes” (page 293). He further comments, “One sign that the stories in this chapter [22] may have been transferred to Ahab from some other king is the fact that except for Ahab’s name in 22:20, the narrator names neither the king of Israel nor the king of Aram in 22:1-38” (page 342, note 1). In any case, it is clear in the present context that the king of Israel is intended to refer to Ahab, and that may be made explicit in translation.

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 .