The Revised Standard Version adverb therefore (also New Revised Standard Version) in the first part of this verse represents the common Hebrew conjunction. Most modern versions find it unnecessary to use such a strong transition word.

Let your heart … be wholly true to the LORD is literally “let your heart be whole with the LORD.” The second person pronoun is plural, referring to the people of Israel. The Hebrew adjective rendered wholly true is shalem. The adjective comes from a root meaning “to be complete.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders this same adjective “finished” in 1 Kgs 6.7, where the reference is to “finished stones cut at the quarry.” But in this case New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh attempts to retain the imagery of the heart by saying “may you be wholehearted with the LORD.” New International Version has “your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD.”

Statutes … commandments: See the comments on 1 Kgs 2.3.

As at this day is elliptical, and translators may wish to supply the words that are missing in order to make the sense clear. The sense is “just as you are walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments today.” International Children’s Bible makes a complete sentence of this clause by saying “You must continue to obey in the future as you do now.”

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 .