Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in…?: See the comments on 2 Chr 9.29. This is a rhetorical question in Hebrew. In some languages it may be better to restate this information as a statement (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer: The Hebrew here may be understood as referring to one written source or two distinct sources (so Good News Translation). Whether one or two, the source or sources no longer exist. Since the names of the sources here are probably titles, Good News Translation uses italic font, and so does New Living Translation with “The Record of Shemaiah the Prophet and The Record of Iddo the Seer.” Some translations place these names in quotation marks and/or use capital letters in an attempt to show that specific written sources are intended. For Shemaiah the prophet, see 2 Chr 11.2; for Iddo the seer, see 2 Chr 9.29. Regarding the meaning and translation of the terms prophet and seer, see the comments on 1 Chr 9.22.

Following the words Iddo the seer, the Masoretic Text contains a Hebrew word that is not translated in Revised Standard Version. This word means “to be enrolled by genealogy” (see the comments on 1 Chr 4.33, where it is used for the first time by the Chronicler). It seems to make little or no sense here. Following some ancient versions, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous corrects the text here to read “recorded accurately.” Moreover, the Septuagint reads “and his deeds” instead of “to be enrolled by genealogy.” Therefore some scholars think the Hebrew word meaning “to be enrolled by genealogy” was added to the text later, so Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, and Peregrino omit it.

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the reading in the Septuagint shows that for the Greek translator the meaning of the Hebrew was not clear and that the translator substituted the words “and his deeds,” which are found in summaries of other kings’ reigns in 2 Chr 13.22; 27.7; and 28.26. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives the Masoretic Text a {B} rating here. Perhaps the Hebrew word meaning “to be enrolled by genealogy” refers to another historical source. In any case, unlike Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version follows the Masoretic Text by saying “recorded by genealogy.”

Other versions attempt to make sense of this word by rendering the last half of the rhetorical question as “the book entitled History of the prophet Shemaiah and the seer Iddo, where the genealogical lists appear” (Bible en français courant; similarly La Bible du Semeur, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “and his family records are found in The History of Shemaiah the Prophet and The History of Iddo the Prophet” (Good News Translation), or “the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies.” According to the Anchor Bible translation, the official genealogy was also written in these histories. For the whole question it has “As for the history of Rehoboam from beginning to end, is it not written down in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer; so also is the official genealogy?”

There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam is literally “And wars Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.” Revised English Bible says “There was continual fighting between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.” If a rather literal translation would suggest that these two individuals were fighting, then this sentence should be rendered to state that during Rehoboam’s rule of the southern kingdom, there was constant war with the northern kingdom of Israel, ruled by Jeroboam. Rather than actual fighting, some interpreters think it is more likely that there was an armed truce between Jeroboam and Rehoboam, with each side building fortresses to protect its border against the other side. That is, there was a constant state of war between the two kingdoms, even though there may have been little or no actual fighting.

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 .