So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day: Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version take the common Hebrew conjunction at the beginning of this verse as a logical connector by rendering it So, but Good News Translation and many other versions consider it sufficient to simply begin a new paragraph here. Since the Israelites of the northern tribes had already met with Rehoboam three days earlier, the verb came is rendered “returned” (Good News Translation, New Century Version) or “came back” (Contemporary English Version) in some versions. The third day may be rendered “Three days later” (Good News Translation) or “on the third day” (Revised English Bible).

As the king said is literally “as the king said saying.” New Jerusalem Bible renders this clause “in obedience to the king’s instructions” (similarly Good News Translation). Another possible model is “as the king had said,” since he had already said this in verse 5. The reference to the king here may be confusing in some languages. For this reason Good News Translation translates Rehoboam as “King Rehoboam” and then the king is expressed by the pronoun “he.”

Come to me again the third day: Good News Translation and Revised English Bible restructure the verse and eliminate this direct quotation since English style tends not to use direct quotations as frequently as Hebrew does. The background for this verse is verses 3-5.

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 .