Moreover translates the common Hebrew conjunction again. As in 2Chr 26.9, it may be expressed by beginning a new paragraph (so Good News Translation).

Uzziah had an army of soldiers is literally “it was to Uzziah an army doing battle.” This clause may be expressed as “Uzziah had an army of professional soldiers” (God’s Word) or “Uzziah had a standing army” (similarly Complete Jewish Bible). According to verse 12, this army was commanded by 2,600 officers. According to verse 13, there were 307,500 soldiers under their command. So the army consisted of 310,100 soldiers, counting the commanders and the troops.

Fit for war is literally “going out for service.” See the comments on 1 Chr 5.18, where this expression is rendered “ready for service.” Here it may be translated “ready for battle” (Good News Translation) or “ready to go to war” (God’s Word).

In divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Je-iel the secretary and Ma-aseiah the officer: Jeiel and Maaseiah had taken a census of Uzziah’s troops, and the troops were organized in military units according to this census (so Bible en français courant). The passive expression made by Je-iel … (literally “by the hand of Jeiel…”) may be made active where necessary by saying “which Jeiel … had made.” Je-iel is called the secretary, which means he kept the records for the army (see the comments on 1 Chr 18.16). Ma-aseiah is called the officer. His exact function is not clear. He may have been the person who had authority to muster the troops. For the Hebrew word rendered officer, see the comments on 1 Chr 23.4. Other renderings here for this word include “clerk” (Revised English Bible), “recorder” (New American Bible), “staff-officer” (New Jerusalem Bible), “comptroller” (Moffatt), and “administrator” (Bible en français courant). Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente include both Je-iel and Ma-aseiah as secretaries without distinguishing their functions. But this is not advisable since the text uses two different terms.

Under the direction of Hananiah is literally “under the hand of Hananiah,” but the meaning is expressed well by Revised Standard Version. New Century Version says “Hananiah … was their leader.”

One of the king’s commanders may be rendered “a member of the king’s staff” (Good News Translation) or “one of the royal generals” (Moffatt).

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 .