In that night God appeared to Solomon: In that night refers to the night following the day on which Solomon offered the sacrifices. This phrase is more commonly expressed in English as simply “That night” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), but some languages may say “During that night” or “In the night that followed.” In some languages this phrase will come at the end of the clause rather than at the beginning; for example, Revised English Bible says “God appeared to Solomon that night.” The parallel text in 1 Kgs 3.5 says that God appeared in a dream to Solomon. Scholars disagree on whether or not the author of 2 Chronicles deliberately omitted the reference to a dream for theological reasons. If he did, then translators should not add “in a dream” here as Contemporary English Version has done. However, most likely, the omission was not for theological reasons.

And said to him: The verb said will be more naturally rendered “asked” or “inquired” if the direct quotation that follows is in the form of a question as in Good News Translation. However, like Revised Standard Version, a majority of modern versions follow the Hebrew text by rendering the quotation as an imperative.

Ask what I shall give you: These words of God imply that he intends to give Solomon whatever he requests. Some translations make this explicit by saying “Ask me what you want, I will give it to you” (Parole de Vie; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). New Living Translation is similar with “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

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 .