The structure of King David’s response may seem backward in some languages, which will require that the words I will do … come first in the sentence rather than at the end. Note that Good News Translation, as well as New American Bible, Revised English Bible, and others, have reversed the order.

Whatever seems best to you: literally “what goes well in your eyes.” In some languages it may be better to transform the entire quotation into indirect discourse along the lines of what Knox has done, “the king told them he would abide by their judgement.”

So: the conjunction here is probably not a logical connector as the Revised Standard Version rendering seems to indicate. It is rather a marker of the next step in the sequence of events. It was simply after David had made his statement and not a result of his statement that he stepped aside as his army marched out to battle.

Stood at the side of the gate: all of the fighting men passed through the city gate of Mahanaim on their way out to the battle with Absalom’s forces. David therefore stood beside the gate to watch as his troops left the town.

By hundreds and by thousands: that is, according to the groups established in verse 1 above. In languages that have a technical military term for combat units, such as “squadrons,” that term may be used here: “in squadrons of hundreds and thousands” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

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 .

Ordered …: literally “ordered … saying.” In view of the fact that this order was probably heard by thousands of soldiers and intended for all, it may be better to translate the verb here as “shouted” or something similar. Contemporary English Version has “Then in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he said,” which actually translates the meaning of the last sentence in this verse as well as the verb here.

Deal gently: there is actually no verb here in the Hebrew. And the meaning of what is probably a prepositional phrase, which is more literally “with gentleness,” is debated. It is translated “softly” in the story of Jael (Judges 4.21). Some scholars claim that the word comes from a verb meaning “cover” or “veil,” and that the meaning is “to protect from harm.” Anchor Bible has “Protect young Abishalom for me.” Knox translates “spare me my son….” And Contemporary English Version says “be sure that Absalom comes back unharmed.”

For my sake: literally “for me.” David was asking his commanders to do something that was not normal in a battle situation, but to do so because of him. The idea of doing something “for the sake of” someone else is found in the story of Sodom (Gen 18) and in the treatment of Mephibosheth in 2 Sam 9.1, 7.

The young man Absalom: this expression shows a certain amount of tenderness and concern for the rebel leader. The same expression was used in 14.21 and occurs again in this chapter at verses 12, 29, and 32 in quotations from the lips of David.

All the people: that is, all the fighting men who were going out to battle. The impression is that the troops had probably passed through the city gate and were assembled on the outside of the town when David gave his final orders to the three commanders in their hearing.

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 .

So: the common conjunction here may be taken as a logical connector and translated as in Revised Standard Version. But several versions take it as being sequential and translate “Then” (New American Bible, Moffatt, An American Translation) or leave it untranslated (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised English Bible, New International Version).

Army: literally “people” as in verses 1-5 above. Good News Translation makes the reference more precise by saying “David’s army.” This may be a better model for certain other languages.

The field: in the context of this passage, the word used here refers to unpopulated areas as opposed to areas where there were towns. The remainder of the verse indicates that the region contained a forest.

The battle was fought: in languages where this passive form is not used, it will be much more natural to say “the armies fought each other” or something similar.

The forest of Ephraim: some Greek manuscripts have “the forest of Mahanaim” (New American Bible translates “the forest near Mahanaim”), but it is unlikely that this was the original reading, even though it may be considered more logical. Since the battle was fought on the east side of the Jordan River, as 17.24 and 19.15 make clear, it seems strange that the forest was named after Ephraim, but some scholars feel that the area may have been settled at some time by people from the tribe of Ephraim. According to 1 Maccabees 5.46, there was a village named “Ephron” east of the Jordan River in Gilead. Since this name is spelled similar to “Ephraim,” some interpreters correct the text to read “the forest of Ephron” (Revised English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives no advice on this textual problem and therefore implicitly recommends the reading followed by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

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 .

The statement containing the passive verb, were defeated, may easily be turned around if the passive causes problems: “David’s army defeated the Israelites….”

The servants of David: in the present context this expression refers to all those who were loyal to David—including officers and regular fighting men.

The slaughter there was great …: the structure of the last part of this verse is awkward and will probably need to be arranged differently in other languages. Some may prefer the following model: “That day twenty thousand soldiers died in the battle. The killing was very great.” The word translated slaughter is rendered “casualties” (New International Version and New American Bible) and “loss of life” (Revised English Bible). The rendering of Good News Translation as “defeat” may therefore be misleading. The same Hebrew term is rendered “plague” in 1 Sam 6.4 and “slaughter” in 1 Sam 4.17 and 2 Sam 17.9.

Twenty thousand men: it is uncertain whether this refers to the total number of soldiers on both sides or just the enemies of David. The parallelism between the two parts of this verse suggests that the figure twenty thousand refers to the enemies only, that is, to the Israelite soldiers. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this interpretation explicit, with “20,000 Israelites met their death.”

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 .

The battle: that is, the struggle between the two opposing armies. Instead of saying The battle spread, it may be more natural in certain languages to say “the armies fought [all over the countryside].” It will probably also be unnatural to translate literally the face of all the country. The meaning is rather “throughout the region.”

The forest devoured more people … than the sword: there are two categories of fatalities in this battle. Both are presented in figurative terms in this verse. First there were those killed by soldiers of the opposing army (the sword). But there were also people who died because of the dangers of the dense forest. This may have included snakes, wild animals, poisonous plants, and perhaps traps set by David’s men, who were skilled in guerilla warfare. The forest was also at least partly responsible for the death of Absalom, since his hair was caught in a tree, and this left him unprotected before his enemies. The imagery of the forest devouring people may be better translated less literally in many languages. Some may say something like “the number of people who died because of the dangers of the forest was greater than the number of those who were killed by their enemies.” The note in Fox‘s translation seems to express the writer’s intention here in referring to the forest: “Ultimately the victory is attributable to God, not to David’s army.”

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 .

And: while the Hebrew text has only the ordinary conjunction here, Good News Translation tries to capture the surprise element in the story by translating here “suddenly.”

Chanced to meet: literally “was met by….” The meeting was almost certainly an accidental one, as the Revised Standard Version rendering indicates. The wording of Revised Standard Version and most other English versions makes it sound as if the chance meeting of Absalom and David’s men occurred before Absalom’s head was caught in the tree and, in fact, this meeting may have initiated the ride that resulted in this accident. Contemporary English Version, on the other hand, has the chance encounter occurring after Absalom’s head was caught. But this seems less likely than the way most versions relate the story.

Mule: see 13.29; Psa 32.9.

A great oak: literally “the great tree.” The use of the definite article in Hebrew may be an indication that, by the time the story was written, the tree was well known to all the readers and hearers of the story. On the other hand, it is common for Hebrew to use a definite article even when the writer is not referring to a specific known object or person. For this reason many translations say “a great oak [or, terebinth]” (for example, New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised English Bible, New American Bible). While the term found here is often used to refer to an oak tree, it could also be an elm or a terebinth (New American Bible, Anchor Bible, Goldman). Since the particular kind of tree is not really important to the story, it is possible to translate as in Contemporary English Version, “a huge tree.”

His head caught fast: the exact way in which Absalom’s head was caught in the tree is not provided by the writer. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the first century of our era, says that, since Absalom’s mule was galloping along, “he was lifted up by the unsteady motion, and his hair became entangled in a rugged tree with great branches extending far out, and in this strange fashion he remained suspended.” (Josephus, k Antiquitiesk* 7.239). According to 14.26 Absalom had long hair. Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which says “his hair got caught in the terebinth” (New American Bible is similar).

Some more modern scholars have speculated that he may have been caught by the neck in a forked branch of the tree. If it is possible to leave the details to the readers’ imagination, this is certainly acceptable. But in those languages where translators are forced to decide, there is reason to believe that the ancient historian was correct. The writer may well have intended the reader to think back to the passage about Absalom’s long hair (14.26).

Left hanging: this is the reading of all the ancient versions and a manuscript from Qumran; and it is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives it a {C} rating. Nearly all modern translations are based on this reading. The Masoretic Text has a form of the verb “to give,” but it is uncertain how it should be translated here. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, following the Hebrew text, says “he was held.”

Between heaven and earth: a literal rendering of this graphic expression may not give the desired meaning in some languages. Several English versions abandon this expression and depict Absalom as being left hanging “in midair” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version as well as Good News Translation). In some other languages this may be better expressed as “with his feet off the ground” or “without touching the earth.”

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 .

A certain man: the person who first saw Absalom in this predicament is not named, but he was apparently on the side of David, since he reported what he had seen to Joab. If it had been one of Absalom’s men, this would not have happened. For this reason Good News Translation says “One of David’s men.” The English translation A certain … may suggest that the writer is referring to a specific individual; but this expression, like the Hebrew that it translates, really means “someone indefinite.”

Told Joab: literally “made known to Joab and said.” Some languages may have to supply something that would be understood from the text, namely that the man went to the place where Joab was. If Joab had been present, there would have been no need for him to be told.

Behold: the focusing particle here directs attention to the importance of what is about to be said. Nothing could have been more important than the vulnerability of the enemy commander. New Jerusalem Bible tries to capture the immediacy of the event by translating “I have just seen….” If the direct quotation is rendered indirectly, this element may have to be dropped or translated by means of an adverb. New American Bible makes it into indirect discourse, translating the whole verse as “Someone saw this and reported to Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.”

Hanging in an oak: the translation of oak here should correspond with what was done in the previous verse. And even if a specific kind of tree is named in verse 9, the more general term “tree” can be used here.

In some languages the direct quotation at the end of this verse will be more naturally rendered indirectly. A possible model is “told Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging in a big tree.”

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 .

It may be possible to leave the words to the man who told him implicit in many languages. This will be especially true in those cases where the verb said is translated by “responded” or “answered” as in Good News Translation.

What, you saw him! The initial exclamation translated What in Revised Standard Version is actually the same focusing particle often rendered “Behold,” as in the previous verse, and this particle is translated “behold” by King James Version and New American Standard Bible in this verse. Here it clearly marks Joab’s surprise at the fact that the soldier had not immediately killed the enemy commander. Many languages will have a particle used to show surprise or alarm that will be suitable here. The verb translated you saw actually has no object, but what is understood is certainly either Absalom or, more probably, Absalom in his peculiar predicament. In some languages it will be more natural to say “you saw that matter!” or “you saw him like that!”

Strike him there to the ground: the expected course of action in a normal battle would have been to kill the enemy immediately rather than coming back to Joab to report having seen him hanging in the tree. But the soldier had in mind the final order of David, who pleaded for clemency for Absalom (verse 5).

The reward that may have been given to this unnamed soldier if he had killed Absalom immediately would have been ten pieces of silver and a girdle. Regarding the first of these two elements, the Hebrew text actually says simply “ten of silver.” Since the weight measurement for silver was a shekel, New International Version is justified in supplying the word “shekels.” But since “shekel” is unknown to modern readers, a translation such as that found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is better. Most modern versions, including New Revised Standard Version, translate the second term as “belt.” See the comments on 1 Sam 18.4, where a noun with the same root is also translated “girdle” in Revised Standard Version.

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 .