To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah: See Jer 25.11; 29.10. By the mouth of Jeremiah may be rendered “spoken through Jeremiah” (New Living Translation, God’s Word). This whole clause may be rendered “So what the LORD had told the people of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah happened” (similarly New Century Version).

Until the land enjoyed its sabbaths: The land refers to the physical land of Judah. In some languages it may not be appropriate for the noun land to be the subject of the verb enjoyed. Older versions such as King James Version tended to render this verb as Revised Standard Version has done, but more recently scholars have come to realize that there are two separate Hebrew verbs that have the same spelling. One of these verbs means “to enjoy,” and the other verb means “to pay,” “to redeem,” or “to restore.” New Revised Standard Version uses the second verb by rendering this clause as “until the land had made up for its sabbaths.” The idea here is that the land would have to be left uncultivated for the time period mentioned. The footnote in Good News Translation explains clearly the sense of sabbaths. According to Lev 25.1-7, the land was to be left uncultivated for a whole year every seven year period, but this law had not been respected.

All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years: These words combines elements from Lev 26.34-35 and Jer 25.11-12. It lay desolate means “Judah was [like] an empty desert” (Contemporary English Version). It kept sabbath means the land was allowed to rest by not being farmed. To fulfill the seventy years explains the purpose of not farming the land during this period. The land of Judah remained like an empty desert for seventy years to make up for all the years it was not allowed to rest. The land was supposed to rest every seventh year, but this had not happened.

Some versions turn the second part of this verse into direct discourse (so Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, La Bible Pléiade, El libro del Pueblo de Dios), but in others it is indirect. The Hebrew text has no quotation marks when a speaker’s words are quoted. Here it is not clear whether the words until the land … seventy years are intended to be Jeremiah’s words or the words of the Chronicler. Either interpretation is possible. If they are taken as Jeremiah’s words, then these words tell what Jeremiah prophesied. If they are taken as the author’s words, these words state that Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning seventy years of exile will not be fulfilled until the Promised Land has had seventy years of desolation. These words are not a direct quotation from any verse in Jeremiah. If translators treat them as a direct quotation, they may find the following footnote in El libro del Pueblo de Dios useful: “The quotation [in verse 21] is not literal. See Jer 25.11; 29.10; Zech 1.12.”

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 .