Along with all their villages which were round about these cities as far as Baal: Baal is the reading of the Masoretic Text, but some Septuagint manuscripts read “Baalath” along with the parallel text in the Masoretic Text of Josh 19.8, which calls the town “Baalath-beer.” A number of modern versions follow the Septuagint here (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, American Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Good News Translation adds “southwest,” but since the exact identification of Baal, or “Baalath,” is unknown, it is probably better not to add an indication of direction.

They kept a genealogical record is literally “to keep a record for them.” The Hebrew verb here is used frequently in the books of 1–2 Chronicles as well as in Ezra (2.62; 8.1, 3) and Nehemiah (7.5, 64). One possible translation for this clause is “they wrote the history of their family” (New Century Version). Others may say “they wrote down lists of the names of their family members.” Some interpreters think that the intended meaning here is that they kept a list of those eligible for military service (see the comments on verse 38). The Hebrew does not say that the descendants of Simeon kept a record of the places where they lived, as Good News Translation, states. It says only that they kept a record of the families.

The following verses seem unrelated to the context, and perhaps for this reason some translations begin a new paragraph with the clause they kept a genealogical record and connect it with verse 34. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, for example, takes this as an introduction to the following verses, translating as follows: “Registered in their genealogy were: 34 Meshobab…” (similarly Revised English Bible, Peregrino, Klein).

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 .