The thirty (verse 6): See the comments on 1 Chr 11.25. New Living Translation says “David’s elite military group known as the Thirty.”

Ammizabad his son was in charge of his division (verse 6): The Hebrew is literally “and his [Benaiah’s] division was Ammizabad his son.” The meaning of this clause in Hebrew is not clear, and the many different translations of it reflect the difficulty of knowing what the intended meaning is. The Septuagint changed the text to read “and Ammizabad his son was over his division.” But Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text, arguing that the Septuagint changed the text to agree with the form of the following verses. Even if someone follows the Masoretic Text here, as Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends, a literal translation will be confusing or without meaning.

The difficulty in giving a clear translation is that the intended meaning is not immediately obvious. Probably more is intended than simply “His son was Ammizabad” (God’s Word). In the Masoretic Text this clause almost certainly means at the least that “his son Ammizabad was in his division” (so An American Translation, Moffatt, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Bible Pléiade, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Nueva Versión Internacional, Reina-Valera revisada, Osty-Trinquet, Peregrino.

But the clause “his division was Ammizabad his son” may mean more than simply that Ammizabad was in his father’s division. In agreement with the Septuagint, it may mean that Ammizabad was in charge of the division of 24,000 men while his father was in charge of the elite corps of “The Thirty” (so Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Bible en français courant, for example, renders the last half of verse 6 as “when he became leader of them [the Thirty], it was his son Ammizabad who took charge of his division” (similarly Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), and Revised English Bible has “was a chief among the thirty … but his son Ammizabad commanded his division.”

On the other hand, this clause may mean that Ammizabad became the leader of the elite corps after his father died (so Good News Translation, 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 .