Verses 11-16 are not in one important manuscript of the Septuagint, so some interpreters think that they were added later to the text of 1 Chronicles. Knoppers places these six verses within square brackets to show his uncertainty, but they are firmly a part of the Masoretic Text and should be translated.

Egypt was the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naph-tuhim: Since the names at the end of this verse and in the next one refer to the people who inhabited certain places, Good News Translation says “the people of Lydia, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh…” (similarly International Children’s Bible, Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem). Another way of expressing that these are groups of people is “the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim…” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Braun, Osty-Trinquet).

Egypt is literally “Mitsrayim” as in verse 8. The list of ethnic groups that follow were most likely located near Egypt.

Ludim was perhaps the ancestor of “the people of Lydia” (Good News Translation) in Asia Minor. But because Jer 46.9 and Ezek 30.5 refer to Lud along with Cush and Put, some scholars think that the Ludim may refer to an unidentified African people.

The location of the Anamim is unknown. Perhaps this ethnic group was somewhere on the north coast of Africa.

Many scholars think that the Hebrew name Lehabim is a variant spelling for the name “Lubim,” that is, the Libyans. The reading in the Septuagint supports this view. Libya was located in northern Africa, immediately west of Egypt. Most translations simply transliterate the singular form of this name as “Lehab” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) or say “[the] Lehabites” (New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Nueva Versión Internacional). Moffatt, however, says “the Libyans.”

The exact location of the Naph-tuhim is also uncertain. On the basis of various kinds of evidence scholars have proposed that this ethnic group was either in the area of the delta in northern Egypt, or in the area of Memphis in Middle Egypt.

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 .