He answered: The initial verb in this verse is literally “said,” but it is correctly translated in this context as answered by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

Your father’s house refers to Omri and his family.

You have forsaken: The pronoun you here is plural in Hebrew, referring to Ahab and those who ruled immediately before him. However, the initial second person pronoun is singular. But the addition of your father’s house broadens the meaning immediately.

Instead of the commandments of the LORD, the Septuagint says “the Lord your God.” New Jerusalem Bible and Osty-Trinquet follow the Septuagint in part by translating “Yahweh.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recognizes that perhaps neither the Masoretic Text nor the Septuagint preserves the oldest form of the text. That is, both the reading of the Masoretic Text and of the Septuagint may contain later additions, but since the reading of the Masoretic Text is the oldest existing form of the Hebrew text, Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives it an {A} rating.

Followed the Baals: The verb followed in Hebrew is second person singular, referring only to Ahab. This common Hebrew idiom means “to worship idols of Baal” as Good News Translation states in contemporary English. As noted in 1 Kgs 16.31, the plural Baals may refer to Canaanite gods in general or to different local manifestations of the one god Baal.

In order to show in English the use of both the singular and plural second person references in Hebrew, Walsh translates as follows: “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because (all of) you have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh. And you yourself have followed the Baals.”

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 .