Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation differ in the way they make a paragraph break here. Revised Standard Version begins a new paragraph after the first part of this verse (also New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible), but Good News Translation begins a new paragraph at the beginning of the verse (also Revised English Bible, New American Bible). Other versions do not make a paragraph break here at all (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The meaning does not seem to be different whichever paragraph division is used, but see the comments below on verse 40.
To this day: See the comments on 1 Kgs 8.8 and 2 Kgs 2.22. In this case the writer uses this expression to introduce the concluding statement about the people who were relocated in Samaria. Up to the time that the books of 1–2 Kings were written, these people acted in the manner described here.
They do according to the former manner may be translated “they do just like they had done before” or “they do as they did in the past” (New Century Version). Another way of expressing the meaning is “They keep up these old practices” (Revised English Bible). In Hebrew the verbal construction for do indicates continuous action. This is also true for the verbs do not fear and do not follow later in the verse.
They do not fear the LORD: Since it has been said in the previous verses (32-33) that these people did in fact fear the LORD, some translators may feel it necessary to add an adverb as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh does in square brackets, saying “They do not worship the LORD [properly].” Or others may say “They do not pay true respect to the LORD.”
They do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment: Translators frequently have difficulty with the synonymous terms statutes, ordinances, law and commandment when they occur together as in this verse. See the discussion on these terms in 1 Kgs 2.3. If the resources of the language do not permit translators to find four different terms, the list may have to be reduced to two or three terms. Revised Standard Version does not precisely reflect the Hebrew text in this part of the verse. The Hebrew is literally “their statutes and their ordinances and the law and the commandment.” Revised English Bible corrects the Hebrew to read “his statutes and his judgements, the law and commandments” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible). There is no need, however, to correct the Hebrew pronoun for “their” since the meaning of this pronoun in the phrases “their statutes and their ordinances” is “the statutes and ordinances that God had given to them.” The nouns rendered law and commandment are singular in Hebrew. The law probably refers to the whole of God’s law, and commandment probably refers to all of God’s commandments, so both words may be rendered as plurals to correctly give the sense in some languages (so New International Version). It is possible that law and commandment are in apposition to statutes and ordinances. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh reflects this by saying “They do not follow the laws and practices, the Teaching and Instruction.”
The children of Jacob: This clearly refers to the descendants of Jacob through many generations. So “the descendants of Jacob” (Good News Translation) will be a more accurate translation of the meaning.
Whom he named Israel: According to Gen 32.28, it was God who renamed Jacob.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .