And Obed-edom had sons …: Verses 4-8, which deal with the family of Obed-edom, interrupt the account regarding the descendants of Meshelemiah in verses 1-3 and 9. The writer makes no connection of Obed-edom to the Levites. Obed-edom here is perhaps the same Obed Edom mentioned in 2 Sam 6.10-11 and 1 Chr 13.13-14. He had looked after the Covenant Box when it was kept at his house before it was brought to Jerusalem. But even in those passages, he is not linked to the Levites. Even if there is reason to question whether Obed-edom was ever a Levite, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the writer of 1 Chronicles intended that Obed Edom be linked to the Levites, and more specifically as a descendant of Korah, as was Meshelemiah. God’s Word begins verse 4 with “[Also for Korah’s descendants] there were Obed Edom’s sons….” God’s Word places within square brackets what it understands to be implicit information.

The name Obed-edom means “servant of Edom,” and for this reason it is often written as a hyphenated name (so also New International Version) or a double name (so Good News Translation). Translators may feel free to write it either way as long as they are consistent with spellings used in other passages where the name is found.

As in verses 2 and 3, Good News Translation eliminates the ordinal numerals with each name in verses 4 and 5 by saying “listed in order of age” (similarly Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje).

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 .