The Masoretic Text is considerably shorter than either Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is a literal translation of the Hebrew: “Saul then said to the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Show Thammim.’ Jonathan and Saul were indicated by lot, and the troops were cleared.” Other translations that follow the Masoretic Text include New International Version, Fox, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente may provide a good model for translating the Masoretic Text: “Saul questioned the LORD with this request: ‘God of Israel, show who is innocent.’ The lot was thrown and the people were shown to be innocent, unlike Saul and Jonathan.”
Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and many other modern translations (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible) follow the longer text of the Septuagint. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the text of the Septuagint, suggesting that the Hebrew contains an accidental omission. The scribe’s eye probably jumped from the first Israel to the second, thus omitting the material in between.
Translators will remember that the use of the archaic pronoun thou does not mean that there is a difference in the Hebrew (see the comments at 3.9-10). It will also be recalled that Saul’s referring to himself indirectly as thy servant is better translated by the pronoun “me” in most languages.
Urim … Thummim: these were small objects used by Israelite priests to find out God’s will. It is not known precisely how they were used (see Exo 28.30; Num 27.21; Deut 33.8; Ezra 2.63; Neh 7.65). Translations vary in how they translate this part of the verse regarding Urim and Thummin. New Revised Standard Version and New Jerusalem Bible say “give Urim … give Thummim,” Revised English Bible says “let the lot be Urim … let it be Thummim,” and New American Bible says “respond with Urim … respond with Thummim.” A rendering like that in Good News Translation or Revised English Bible may perhaps be more meaningful.
And Jonathan and Saul … the people escaped: that Jonathan and Saul were taken (the same verb occurs in 10.20) means that they “were chosen” (New Century Version). That the people escaped means that the others “went free” (New Century Version). The passive verb rendered were taken will have to be made active in some languages. This will require a clear statement about who the agent was. In this context it seems quite clear that “the LORD took Jonathan and Saul.”
Escaped does not mean “ran away” in this context. The actual Hebrew verb is the ordinary term meaning “they went out.” This has been translated “were cleared” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New International Version) and “went free” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Century Version). Another way of saying this may be “they were released from any blame.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .