Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house: This verse begins in Hebrew with the common conjunction. Revised Standard Version understands the connection with the previous verse to be primarily temporal (Then), but Good News Translation shows Asa’s actions to be a result (“So”) of the blockade by Baasha of Israel. Either translation is possible and both make good sense in this context. The house of the LORD refers to “the Temple” (Good News Translation). The king’s house may be translated “the palace” (Good News Translation) if the receptor language has a special word for the residence of a king.

And sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus: Benhadad (known as Benhadad I) was the king of Syria early in the ninth century B.C. Syria is literally “Aram” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version; see the comments on 1 Chr 18.5). Damascus was the capital of Syria.

The Hebrew expression translated saying may have to be rendered as a separate sentence in some languages. The simplest way to do this is to follow the model of New Century Version, which has “Asa said.” Others may prefer to say more explicitly “Asa sent the following message.”

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 .