And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place … and they are there to this day: The precise sense of this verse is not clear. The Masoretic Text has “[extending] from the ark” (so New International Version, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) rather than from the holy place, and “it is there” (so Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) instead of they are there. A literal translation of the Masoretic Text reads as follows: “And the poles were long and the ends of the poles were seen [extending] from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary and they were not visible to the outside, and it is there until this day.” The Masoretic Text may mean that the ends of the poles could be seen from the ark as far as to the front of the Most Holy Place but were not visible outside the Most Holy Place. Bible en français courant seems to reflect this understanding of the Masoretic Text by rendering the whole verse as “The poles were rather long; their ends could be seen only if one was located between the ark and the entrance to the room, but not from outside [the room]; they have remained in place until this day.”

With support from the Septuagint, a few Hebrew manuscripts, and the parallel passage of 1 Kgs 8.8, Revised Standard Version has corrected the Hebrew text to read from the holy place (that is, the nave) instead of “from the ark” (so also Revised English Bible). According to this reading, the curtain between the nave and the Most Holy Place apparently did not extend the full width of the holy place. This allowed the people standing in the nave in front of the Most Holy Place to see the ends of the poles at either end of the curtain. Only the priests and the Levites were allowed to enter the nave, so they were the only ones who could see this. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides this good model for translating the first part of the verse according to the correction based on the Septuagint: “The poles were so long that their ends only could be seen when someone stood directly in front of the door of the Most Holy Place; from the main room of the sanctuary they could not be seen.”

The translation of this verse in Contemporary English Version is not as precise as more literal translations, so it is not possible to tell whether the translation is based on the Masoretic Text or the Septuagint. Even so, Contemporary English Version seems to follow the meaning found in the Septuagint by saying “The poles were so long that they could be seen from just outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else.”

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and suggests that perhaps the author of 2 Chronicles was following a Hebrew text of 1 Kings which said “it is there” instead of “they are there” at the end of the verse. In order to have an antecedent for the pronoun “it,” the author changed “the holy place” to “the ark.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament claims that the Septuagint does not represent the original reading here but is rather the result of harmonizing this verse to agree with the parallel text in 1 Kgs 8.8.

The passive verb were seen will have to be transformed into an active one in many languages. The meaning is that “priests and Levites could see.” For the inner sanctuary, see the comments on 2 Chr 4.20.

And they are there to this day is taken as parenthetical by Good News Translation and God’s Word. The pronoun they refers to the poles, which Good News Translation makes explicit. As noted above, the Masoretic Text says “and it is there until this day.” The pronoun “it” refers to the ark, which is made explicit by New American Bible, La Bible du Semeur, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. To this day means at the time these words were written. Here the author is quoting from his source in 1 Kgs 8.8. By the time that 2 Chronicles was written, the location and existence of the ark was no longer known. The Temple had been destroyed in 586 B.C. Contemporary English Version provides a slightly different model for this sentence by saying “And they stayed there from then on.”

Following the text recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, the following translation probably expresses the intended meaning of this verse:

• The poles were so long that their ends extending out from the ark were visible from the entrance to the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. The ark has remained there until this very day.

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 .