And: the conjunction here merely serves to tie together the two verses by introducing a further explanation of the organization of David’s forces. There were three groups that were probably more or less equal in number; and the overall commanders of the three groups were the usual military leaders, Joab and his brother Abishai, and Ittai the Gittite, who was rewarded for his faithfulness to the king (see 15.19-22) by being made one of the three most powerful men in David’s army. In some languages it may be distracting to repeat the information the son of Zeruiah when Abishai is mentioned, since this was already said several times (see, for example, 2.18; 16.9).
David sent forth the army: one part of the Septuagint tradition has “David divided the people [army] into three [parts or groups]…,” and this is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives a {C} rating to this reading. This meaning is adopted by New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, An American Translation, Moffatt, and Anchor Bible as well as Good News Translation. In addition to textual considerations, the context also favors the recommendation of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament. In Hebrew the verbs “send forth” and “divide into three parts” are nearly identical in spelling, and a scribe probably misread the Hebrew text and created the new reading “sent forth.” Translators are therefore advised to follow the advice of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament.
The division of the army into thirds may be difficult to describe in some languages. A possible model for those languages that do not easily deal with fractions is “All the soldiers were divided into three [equal] groups. And these three chiefs were made leaders of the three groups: Joab, Abishai who was the brother of Joab, and Ittai who was from Gath.” Revised Standard Version says that each third was placed under the command of, which is a faithful translation of the Hebrew, which says literally “in the hand of” (so Fox).
To the men: literally “to the people.” “People” here, as frequently in 1 and 2 Samuel, refers specifically to the troops. Modern versions have translated “to the soldiers” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “[to] the troops” (New International Version, New American Bible). In some languages it will be more natural to say simply “to them” (New Century Version), since the army has already been specifically mentioned earlier in this verse.
I myself will also go out: the pronoun is emphatic, and this emphasis should be retained in translation if it can be done naturally. There is additional emphasis in the verbal expression used, which is actually made up of two forms of the same verb. A more literal rendering is “Going out I will go out,” but the usual meaning of such a construction is “I will surely go forth” (Goldman). Aside from the special construction, the meaning of the verb itself may be more clearly translated as “go into battle” (Knox). In an attempt to reflect the various emphases here, the whole phrase may be translated “As for me, I will certainly go into battle with you.”
In some languages, however, it may be wise to follow the model of Revised English Bible and make this direct quotation into an indirect one: “The king announced to his troops that he himself was coming out with them.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .