All the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep: Good News Translation seems to take the people of Israel and Judah as redundant since the text goes on to say that these people lived in the cities of Judah, but the fact that there were some from the northern kingdom (Israel) is obscured in the Good News Translation translation. Bible en français courant provides a better model, saying “The inhabitants of the cities of Judah, Israelites of the north or Judeans….” For the word tithe, see the comments on the previous verse. The terms cattle and sheep are general terms for two groups of livestock, the larger (including oxen and cows) and the smaller (including sheep and goats). For this reason Contemporary English Version and Dillard render cattle and sheep as “herds and flocks.”

And the dedicated things which had been consecrated to the LORD their God: The dedicated things is literally “the tithe of holy things.” Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation fail to state that a tenth of the holy things was also given. Other renderings include “the tithe of sacred gifts” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “one-tenth of the holy things” (New Century Version). For this whole phrase Dillard speaks of “and a tithe of their produce dedicated to Yahweh their God” since what follows makes it clear that this is what is intended. Revised English Bible similarly says “and a tithe of all produce as offerings dedicated to the LORD their God.” The passive verb had been consecrated may be made active by following the model of Good News Translation, which indicates that the people themselves were the ones who consecrated these items to Yahweh.

And laid them in heaps: The Hebrew word for heaps is used here and in each of the next three verses. It is relatively rare elsewhere in the Old Testament (Ruth 3.7; Neh 4.2; 13.15; Song 7.3; Jer 50.26; Hag 2.16). Here the Hebrew text repeats the word, giving the sense of “piles and plies” or “heaps and heaps” as reflected in several French versions (so Nouvelle Bible Segond, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It refers to the amassing of items in random order in several different places and may be translated “piles” (New Century Version, Anchor Bible).

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 .