Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines: The fact that Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his other wives or concubines may be expressed in a variety of ways in other languages. One English translation has “Maacah was Rehoboam’s favorite wife.” The Hebrew repeats here that Maacah was the daughter of Absalom. Some versions omit that information here for reasons of style (so Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible). If it is retained, it should be translated in the same way as in the previous verse.

Concubines were servant women who, although not wives, had sexual relations with their masters. They had important legal rights, and their masters were referred to as their husbands. Contemporary English Version defines concubines in a footnote as “women who were legally bound to a man, but without the full privileges of a wife.” Contemporary English Version calls them “other women,” which is a rather weak translation of the Hebrew noun here. New Century Version has “slave women,” which is somewhat better. They are referred to in Bible en français courant as “wives of second rank.” In some other languages they have been called “servant-wives.”

He took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters: Large families were a sign of God’s blessing (see also 2 Chr 13.21).

The structure of this verse is fundamentally changed by Good News Translation and some other modern versions. The material that Revised Standard Version takes as parenthetical at the end of the verse is moved to the beginning and sets the stage for what is said about Maacah. Such restructuring may provide a more reasonable model for other languages.

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 .