This was the muster of them by fathers’ houses: The English word muster is a technical term referring to the registration or enrollment of military personnel. But the Hebrew noun here has a wider range of meanings, including “list of personnel and their duties,” which may include military duties, as it does here. This was the muster of them may be expressed in more common language as “These soldiers were listed” (New Century Version) or “Here is a listing of them” (Complete Jewish Bible). By fathers’ houses means the listing was done by clans. For fathers’ houses, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.13. In many languages this literal expression is better rendered “ancestral clans” (New Living Translation), “family groups” (La Bible du Semeur), or simply “families” (God’s Word, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Bible en français courant renders this whole clause as “These soldiers were grouped according to their family of origin.”

Of Judah, the commanders of thousands …: A list of commanders follows according to clans, beginning with those from the tribe of Judah (verses 14b-16) and concluding with those from the tribe of Benjamin (verses 17-18). Commanders of thousands seems to be the most natural understanding of the Hebrew words here. Some other renderings that express this sense are “chiefs of thousands” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “commanders of units of 1,000” (New International Version). For this whole phrase New Century Version has “From the families of Judah, these were the commanders of groups of a thousand men.” It is also possible to understand the Hebrew to mean “There were a thousand officers from Judah” ( NET Bible), but this is unlikely given the context.

Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty men of valor: The first commander in the list is Adnah, who had 300,000 soldiers under his command.

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 .