And they killed the passover lamb: The priests are clearly the subject of the verb sprinkled and the Levites are the subject of flayed, but the referent for the pronoun they at the beginning of this verse is unclear. In the following verses it is clear that the Levites are the subjects of the third person plural verbs in Hebrew (see especially verse 14), so that is probably true here also. For the passover lamb, see the comments on 2Chr 35.1. New Living Translation provides a helpful model for this clause, saying “The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

And the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from them: The Hebrew does not state here where the blood was sprinkled. Some translations make it explicit that the blood was sprinkled “on the altar” (Good News Translation, Moffatt). The blood which they received from them is literally “from their hand” in the Masoretic Text. The strangeness of this expression has led to numerous additions and changes in the ancient versions. But these words here appear to be nothing more than an elliptical expression of the fuller statement found in 2 Chr 30.16, which reads “the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.” In fact, Osty-Trinquet places the word “Levites” in square brackets, saying “with the blood received from the hand of the [levites].” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text, stating that the changes in the ancient versions are simply attempts to explain the meaning of the Hebrew. However, we recommend the following rendering of this clause for reasons of translation: “and the priests sprinkled [on the altar] the blood that they received from the Levites.”

While the Levites flayed the victims: For the verb flayed, see the comments on 2 Chr 29.34. The victims is supplied by Revised Standard Version since there is no object in Hebrew. But what is clearly implied is the Passover animals that had just been killed. So in some languages it may be necessary to speak of “the animals” (New International Version, New Century Version) or “the carcasses of the animals.”

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 .