He cried … Judah is literally “he cried … Judah, saying.” For cried see verse 2.

Thus says the LORD, ‘Because…’: Once again the text contains a quotation within a larger quotation. This may be avoided as in Good News Translation by making the embedded quotation indirect.

Revised Standard Version, which follows the Hebrew, begins the LORD’s message with the word Because and connects this with the following verse. Good News Translation restructures the entire passage by making three sentences where Revised Standard Version has only one.

You have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment …: The last part of this verse states the same truth both positively and negatively. Because the same truth is stated in two different ways, some languages will avoid the use of the conjunction and to join them.

The word of the LORD is literally “the mouth of the LORD.” Compare Exo 17.1 and 1 Sam 12.14-15, where Revised Standard Version renders it “the commandment of the LORD.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .