Went in the strength of that food: While the meaning of this clause is clear, it may sound awkward if it is translated literally. Some other ways of expressing the meaning are “the food gave him enough strength to travel” (New Living Translation) and “The food made him strong enough to walk” (New Century Version).

Forty days and forty nights reminds the reader of Moses, who was on Mount Sinai for the same length of time (Exo 34.28). If the receptor language uses a word for “day” that covers a twenty-four hour period, then it will be unnecessary to speak separately of forty nights. Otherwise the repetition serves to emphasize the length of time.

Horeb the mount of God: Horeb is another name for “Sinai” (Good News Translation) or “Mount Sinai” (Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). Perhaps originally the name Horeb referred to the area around the mountain, but in any case, the name Horeb eventually came to be used of the mountain itself. Many people may not know that “Sinai” and Horeb refer to the same place. So if translators use the name “Sinai” in the text, they may wish to follow the model of Contemporary English Version, which states in a footnote that the Hebrew says “Horeb.” As in Exo 3.1, Horeb is called the mount of God because this is the place where God revealed himself to his people after their exodus from Egypt (Exo 19.17-18; Psa 68.8). Formal correspondence-type translations and many dynamic equivalence translations say “the mountain of God” (New Century Version, New American Bible, New Living Translation) or “God’s mountain” (New Jerusalem Bible), but depending on how this may be understood in the receptor language, it may be necessary to say something similar to the Good News Translation rendering “the holy mountain.”

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 .