Of Heman, the sons of Heman …: Heman was the second of the three clan heads mentioned in verse 1. The next verse states that Heman had fourteen sons; Good News Translation and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje bring that information forward to the beginning of this verse. As in the previous verse, the repetition of the proper name Heman may be unnatural and may be omitted by following a more natural structure in the receptor language.

Bukkiah and Mattaniah are literally “Bukkiyahu” and “Mattanyahu.”

Uzziel and Shebuel correspond to “Azarel” and “Shuba-el” in verses 18 and 20, and Jerimoth corresponds to “Jeremoth” in verse 22. Translators may use one spelling rather than following the Hebrew in giving two different spellings for the same person’s name; for example, New Living Translation, New Century Version, and Revised English Bible spell Shebuel as “Shubael” both here and in verse 20.

The names of the last nine sons of Heman, beginning with Hananiah and continuing through Mahazi-oth, are different in form from the names of the other sons. With a few small changes in vowels and word division of the Hebrew names, the names sound like part of a psalm when read continuously as follows: “Have mercy on me, Yahweh. / Have mercy on me. / You are my God. / I have exalted [you]. / I have magnified [my] Helper. / Sitting in distress, / I said / Give abundantly / Visions.” It is hard to know how to understand these names. Some interpreters think the writer has adapted a few lines from a psalm. Others suggest that these nine names were a series of beginning phrases used in the titles of some psalms. In any case, whatever the origin of the names, the writer intends these to be nine names (see verse 5, which refers to fourteen sons), and they should be translated as such. Some versions have a footnote which states that these names can be read in the form of a prayer or a sentence composed of expressions of praise, and which gives a translation such as that above (so Bible en français courant, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

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 .