The verb in this sentence comes in the next verse. However, some versions insert a verb here at the beginning of verse 6, saying “He did the same thing[s]” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation).

And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali: Revised Standard Version, which follows the form of the Hebrew here, could be misread to mean that Ephraim and Simeon were cities of Manasseh. Also, the expression cities of Manasseh is subject to misunderstanding since the text of 2 Chronicles has just talked about a king named Manasseh in the previous chapter, but this is not a reference to cities belonging to or related to the king named Manasseh. Therefore, it may be better here to translate “in the towns in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon all the way to the towns of Naphtali.” As in similar contexts, Contemporary English Version specifies Manasseh as “West Manasseh” here. The tribe of Naphtali was located further north than the other tribes mentioned here. Good News Translation makes this explicit by adding “as far north as.”

In their ruins round about: The northern kingdom had been defeated by Assyria, and the words their ruins refers to the what was left after the destruction inflicted on the cities by the Assyrian armies. However, the Hebrew is uncertain here. One possible literal translation of the Hebrew is “on the mountain their houses round about.” But this seems to make little sense. Scholars have suggested numerous ways to correct the Hebrew text here as follows:

(1) Some interpreters change the Hebrew word meaning “on the mountain” [bahar] to a word meaning “destroyed,” and read “he destroyed their idolatrous temples” (see 2 Kgs 23.19). Moffatt, for example, translates “destroyed their houses.”
(2) Others change the middle consonant of the Hebrew word bahar to read “burned” (biʿer); for example, Revised English Bible has “he burnt down their houses wherever he found them.”
(3) Some change the middle consonant to read biʿer with the meaning “removed.” This is the basis for Dillard’s rendering, which is “he removed their temples.”
(4) Other interpreters change the letters in the Hebrew word bahar to read bechar and then connect this word to the following word to read “in their ruins” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Nouvelle Bible Segond; similarly New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Good News Translation is similar with “the devastated areas.” These words refer to the devastation caused earlier by the Assyrian army.
(5) Yet other interpreters change the letters in the Hebrew word bahar to read berach and then connect this word to the following word to read “in their public squares” (Luther). This is the basis for translations such as “and around their plazas” (Anchor Bible; similarly Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), “and round their open spaces” (New Jerusalem Bible).
(6) The margin of the Masoretic Text reads “with their swords all around.”
(7) Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to a slight emendation of the Masoretic Text that changes bahar to read bachar, which means “searched.” This is the basis for the rendering “where he searched the houses” (Bible en français courant). Josiah searched homes to find out if anyone had hidden idols in their homes. The legislation in Deut 13.14 expresses the same idea.

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 .