He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish: New Century Version renders He joined him as “Jehoshaphat agreed with Ahaziah,” so that the referents for the pronouns He and him are clear. Another possible model is “They joined together.” Of course, the two kings did not do the actual work of ship construction, but they were responsible for their workers doing so. Ships to go to Tarshish is probably better understood as referring to ships that were capable of going great distances such as to Tarshish (see the comments on 2 Chr 9.21). This phrase may be translated “several seagoing ships” (Contemporary English Version), “a fleet of trading ships” (New International Version), or “large seagoing merchant ships” ( NET Bible). New Living Translation translates this whole clause as “Together they built a fleet of trading ships.”

And they built the ships in Ezion-geber: For Ezion-geber see the comments on 2 Chr 8.17. Good News Translation supplies the implied information that this was a port. Good News Translation also combines this clause with the previous one, which may be a helpful model for other languages.

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 .