Then David said: The common Hebrew conjunction begins this verse. Here it may express a temporal relationship to the preceding events and may be translated Then (also New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible). Or it may express a logical relationship and be translated “So” (Good News Translation) or “Therefore” (New American Bible).

Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel is literally “This it [is] the house of the house of the LORD God and this [is] altar of burnt offering for Israel.” This expression serves to specify the location of the Temple and the altar. It will be more natural in some languages to reverse the order of the adverbs of place (Here/here) and the objects. International Children’s Bible, for example, says “The Temple of the Lord God will be built here. And the altar for the burnt offerings for Israel will be built here.” Throughout this chapter the ordinary word for house is used in Hebrew to speak of the “Temple” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version; see the comments on 1 Chr 6.32). For the altar of burnt offering, see the comments on 1 Chr 6.49. The Masoretic Text does not have a definite article with the word altar. Perhaps the article was accidentally omitted by a scribe since the previous word ends in the same letter (h) as the Hebrew definite article h. In any case, the reference is not to just any altar, but to the specific altar at the Temple where burnt offerings were made. This is the altar in the sense that is replaces all previous altars where burnt offerings were made. The altar of burnt offering for Israel may be rendered “the altar where the people of Israel are to offer burnt offerings” (Good News Translation; similarly Nueva Versión Internacional, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

In some languages the direct quotation in this verse may be better translated as indirect discourse. A possible model is:

• Then David pointed out the place where he wanted the house of the LORD to be [built] and the location of the altar where the people of Israel would offer burnt offerings to the LORD.

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 .