Also all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated: Samuel, Saul, and Abner— and probably Joab also–had died or been killed before the construction of the Temple. The sense must be that they had given gifts for use in the Tabernacle, which existed before the Temple was built (see 2 Sam 6.17). For Samuel the seer, see the comments on 1 Chr 9.22. Revised Standard Version follows the form of the Hebrew by saying Saul the son of Kish. The phrase the son of Kish would have identified this Saul as the first king of Israel for the original readers. However, since many readers today will not know who Saul the son of Kish was, some modern versions add the word “King” and omit the phrase the son of Kish (so Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Abner was Saul’s general, and Joab was David’s general. Since most readers will assume that Zeruiah was Joab’s father, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje renders Joab the son of Zeruiah as “Joab, whose mother was named Zeruiah” (see the comments on 1 Chr 11.6).

All dedicated gifts were in the care of Shelomoth and his brethren: The Hebrew word translated dedicated gifts is an active participle, which is more literally “who dedicated [gifts].” However, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia suggests that the Hebrew participle should be corrected to a passive form, as in Revised Standard Version, which is surely the required sense. The name Shelomoth is spelled “Shelomith” in the Masoretic Text (see the comments on verse 25).

Good News Translation restructures this verse by shifting the final clause to the beginning, which may be a helpful model in 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 .