Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered Then may be translated “Straight away” or “Immediately” (Bible en français courant) in order to emphasize the rapid succession of events at this point in the story. For Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, see the comments on verse 10. Good News Translation omits the phrase the son of Chenaanah for naturalness in English. Came near may be expanded to “went up to Micaiah” (Good News Translation) for clarity.

Zedekiah struck Micaiah on the cheek in order to insult him (see Psa 3.7; Lam 3.30).

And said: The verb said may be rendered “asked” (Good News Translation) since a question follows.

Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?: This literal rendering may be misunderstood as asking about the direction in which God’s spirit went. However, Zedekiah’s question is a rhetorical one and is not really asking for information. It is intended to be an insult like the slap on the cheek. The meaning of the question is that of one prophet taking the place of another as the primary recipient of messages from the LORD. The question is not about the manner in which this event may have happened, but rather whether or not it had happened at all. Contemporary English Version captures the meaning by saying “Do you really think the LORD would speak to you and not to me?” Another possible model is “If you think the spirit of the LORD has left me to speak through you, you are dead wrong.” As noted in 1 Chr 12.18 and 2 Chr 15.1, it is better not to capitalize the word Spirit.

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 .