complete verse (1 Kings 22:52)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 22:52:

  • Kupsabiny: “Ahaziah did bad deeds before (in the eyes of) God as his father and mother had been doing. He followed like Jeroboam son of Nebat had been doing, the one who led the people of Israel to fall into sin.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Like his father Ahab and his mother Jezebel, and Jeroboam, who caused the Israelites to sin, Ahaziah did evil work that was not pleasing to the LORD.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, because he followed his father and mother, and Jeroboam the child of Nebat, which was became the reason why those whose-from-Israel have-sinned.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, doing the evil things that his father and mother had done and the evil things that Jeroboam had done—the king who had led all the Israeli people to sin by worshiping idols.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 22:52

The author’s judgment on Ahaziah is similar in language to the judgment made on earlier kings of Israel in 1 Kgs 15.26; 16.2, 19, 26. The vocabulary used to evaluate this king is like that used in the earlier cases.

Since this is a summary of Ahaziah’s reign, Good News Translation identifies by name his father (Ahab) and his mother (Jezebel). It may be helpful to do this in other languages (so Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje).

Jeroboam has already been identified as the son of Nebat (1 Kgs 11.26 and several times in chapters 12, 15, 16, and 21), so Good News Translation omits the words the son of Nebat (also Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). But since this is the first reference to Jeroboam in this chapter, translators may wish to include the full form of his name here.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .