Pharaoh Neco: See verse 29. This Egyptian ruler is mentioned also in verses 34-35.

This verse contains four separate textual problems that greatly complicate the translation. These problems are as follows:

• 1. Put him in bonds: While the Masoretic Text and most ancient versions read “fettered” or “put in chains,” the Septuagint has the verb “removed.” The Revised English Bible rendering, “removed him from the throne,” is based on the Septuagint. This variant reading, however, is not recommended to other translators because it seems to have originated from the influence of the parallel text in 2 Chr 36.3. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text.

• 2. At Riblah in the land of Hamath: These words are found in certain texts of the Masoretic Text and the ancient versions, but they are not found in the parallel passage in 2 Chr 36.3. For this reason they are omitted by New English Bible/Revised English Bible. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, however, recommends the inclusion of these words. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even consider this problem since it is not really a textual problem.

• The geographical names, Riblah and Hamath, will probably need classifier terms so that readers and hearers will know what is intended. Riblah was a town located on the Orontes River in the northern part of Lebanon, close to modern-day Syria. This town is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, including Num 34.11 and Jer 39.5. Hamath was a city located to the north of Riblah (see the comments on 1 Kgs 8.65). It was conquered by Assyria (2 Kgs 18.34; 19.13) and later some of the people who lived there were exiled to Israel (2 Kgs 17.24). The surrounding territory came to be known as the land of Hamath, a province of Assyria. This name is not to be confused with “Hammath,” which was one of the fortified towns of the tribe of Naphtali (Josh 19.35).

• 3. That he might not reign translates the marginal reading in the Masoretic Text, which is literally “from reigning.” The text itself reads “when he reigned.” Neither New English Bible nor Revised English Bible follows the Masoretic Text here, but both translate it in a footnote as “bound him at Riblah in the land of Hamath when he was king.” This translation of the Hebrew in the footnotes of New English Bible and Revised English Bible follows the reading of the Hebrew text rather than the correction in the margin of the Masoretic Text. Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other modern versions agree with the {C} rating given by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project to the reading in the margin of the Hebrew text (“from reigning”). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not discuss this variant. Hobbs follows the reading of the Hebrew text, that is, “when he reigned,” and explains this as meaning that Pharaoh Neco interrupted Joahaz’s reign (“during his reign”) in order to take him away as prisoner.

• 4. The reading a talent of gold is replaced by “ten talents of gold” in New Jerusalem Bible and Osty-Trinquet, which are based on one part of the Septuagint tradition and the ancient Syriac version. Some other Septuagint manuscripts read “a hundred talents of gold.” However, few other modern versions accept either of these Greek readings. The vast majority of modern versions acknowledge the validity of the reading followed by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, which is given a {B} rating by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even consider this variant). In modern terms a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold would be “7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold” (Good News Translation) or, using the metric system, “three thousand four hundred kilos of silver and thirty-four kilos of gold” (La Bible du Semeur, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy gives this as “three thousand three hundred kilos of silver and thirty-three kilos of gold.” Bible en français courant rounds this off to “three thousand kilos of silver and thirty kilos of gold.” See the discussion on talent at 1 Kgs 9.14.

Laid upon the land a tribute: A literal rendering of this expression may not produce a clear meaning in the receptor language. What is meant here is that the people in the land were required to pay a tax. The meaning is “imposed on Judah a levy” (New International Version) or, in simpler language, “made the people of Judah pay” (New Century Version).

A recommended translation model based on the textual decisions supported by this Handbook is found in Contemporary English Version and reads as follows:

• King Neco of Egypt had Jehoahaz arrested and put in prison at Riblah near Hamath. Then he forced the people of Judah to pay him almost four tons of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold as taxes.

The system of weights may have to be modified in many languages.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .