The people who were with him: see verses 2 and 17.

Rallied: the Hebrew is literally a passive form of the verb meaning “to cry out.” But in this context it refers to “being called together.” In languages that naturally use the passive form, translators may say “the army was assembled.” Where the passive is not an option, a possible model for translating this verb may be “[Saul] called his army together” (Contemporary English Version).

Behold: the focusing particle here highlights the unusual fact that the Philistines were killing each other.

Every man’s sword was against his fellow: that is, the Philistine soldiers were killing each other. See the similar expression in Judges 7.22. Klein captures the force of the interjection behold as follows: “Surprisingly, the sword of each man [of the Philistines] was turned against his companion—a very great confusion.” Contemporary English Version provides a simpler, common-language equivalent with “By this time the Philistines were so confused that they were killing each other.”

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 .

This verse perhaps provides a clue about the meaning of the word Hebrews in some of the other verses in this passage. Here it is quite clear that these were Israelites who had been with the Philistines, that is, who had been a part of the Philistine fighting force. Contemporary English Version refers to them as “hired soldiers.” Compare 13.7.

Before that time: literally “yesterday and the day-before-yesterday.” See the same Hebrew idiom in 10.11. Similar expressions are also found in 19.7 and 21.5.

Even they also turned: this is a translation based on the Septuagint and is accepted by nearly all interpreters. The difficulty with this translation, however, is that it implies that there were others who previously had also defected from the Philistines to the Israelites. At least that seems to be the implication of the words “they also.” But the text says nothing about others having turned to be with the Israelites.

The Masoretic Text says “round about, and they also.” In Hebrew the word “round about” is an adverb, indicating that the Hebrews had been camped around the camp of the Philistines. The following translation reflects the recommendations of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text: “And the Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and had gone up to their camp and camped around the Philistines, these Hebrews also joined with the Israelites who had joined Saul and Jonathan.”

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 .

The word Likewise is supplied by Revised Standard Version but does not reflect any particular Hebrew word at the beginning of this verse. It is, however, implied by the word too that occurs later in the verse.

All the men … who had hid themselves: a reference to 13.6.

The hill country of Ephraim: see the comments on 1.1.

The verb translated followed hard after is really a form of a verb meaning “to cling to” or “to keep close to.” Here it may be rendered in some languages as “were stuck to.” Or, where this is not appropriate, translators may consider “set off in close pursuit” (Revised English Bible), or perhaps simply “chased after them” (New Jerusalem Bible).

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 .

The order of the two main elements in the Masoretic Text of this verse may need to be reversed in order to provide a more logical presentation. The fact that the battle went beyond Bethaven is a relatively minor detail and may sound very much like an afterthought if left at the end of the verse. The real conclusion to the whole section is more logically the fact that the LORD delivered Israel that day. Compare Good News Translation.

Passed beyond: in some languages it will be unnatural to use such a verb with a word like battle as its subject. Some may have to say “people were fighting as far away as Bethaven.”

Beth-aven: see the comment on 13.5. Since Beth-aven was so close to Michmash (see 13.5), some interpreters follow a few Greek manuscripts and read “Beth-horon,” which was about sixteen kilometers to the west (see 13.18). New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible therefore read “Beth-horon.” But the Masoretic Text should be followed.

In addition there is a textual difficulty at the end of this verse and at the beginning of verse 24. The Septuagint has a longer text, which is followed by New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Anchor Bible, and La Bible Pléiade. New Revised Standard Version says “The battle passed beyond Beth-aven, and the troops with Saul numbered altogether about ten thousand men. The battle spread out over the hill country of Ephraim.” Those translations that follow the Septuagint here begin a new paragraph with the words “And the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not discuss this textual problem. Translators should follow the Masoretic Text, as do 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 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

As the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, the Masoretic Text says “all the land” instead of all the people. Many interpreters think that the Hebrew text of this part of the verse is not original and makes little sense. Various suggested corrections have been proposed. Some interpreters claim that the Hebrew word usually rendered forest may also mean “honeycomb.” This argument seems to be the basis for the New Revised Standard Version translation, which says “All the troops came upon a honeycomb; and there was honey on the ground.”

The note in La Bible Pléiade argues that the word translated “in the forest” should be corrected to read “and they fasted.” La Bible Pléiade therefore says “none of the people tasted food and all those of the country began to fast. But there was honey on the surface of the fields.”

Other translations leave the first part of the verse untranslated. Compare “There was honeycomb in the countryside” (Revised English Bible); “Indeed there was a honeycomb lying on the ground” (New American Bible). Klein simply places dots at the beginning of the verse and leaves the words untranslated: “… And there was a honeycomb on the ground.”

Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not discuss this matter, since the problem is not really a textual problem but rather a difficulty in understanding the meaning of the Masoretic Text. The Masoretic Text should be followed, and the meaning appears to be that the soldiers came into the wooded area in the hills of Ephraim (see verse 22).

Honey: nearly all translations render the Hebrew term as honey here, but the precise nature of this substance is not certain. Some suggest that it may have been a sweet secretion of plant parasites. If it refers to honey, which is most likely, then it is wild honey and not honey made in man-made hives. See also comments on verse 27.

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 .

The focusing particle, behold, is an attempt to highlight the striking nature of the discovery of so much honey available to eat. The common Hebrew conjunction is rightly translated but in the middle of this verse, because it is contrary to what we expect, that hungry men would refuse to eat the available honey, even though Saul had forbidden them to eat anything.

The honey was dropping: literally “dropping of honey.” While this translates a very difficult Hebrew text, the expression seems to indicate how plentiful the honey was. There was so much that it was dripping from the honeycombs that were presumably in the trees and bushes. A literal translation may have to be avoided in some languages in favor of a more dynamic rendering of the meaning. Some may say “they saw honey oozing from its combs” (Knox) or “there was honey everywhere.”

Some interpreters suggest that the Hebrew noun dropping should be read as the verb “to walk” or “to go,” and the noun honey should be slightly changed to read “its bees,” that is, the honeycomb’s bees. Compare Klein, “When the troops came to the honeycomb, its bees had left” (similarly New American Bible and Moffatt). However, translators are urged to follow the Masoretic Text as reflected in Revised Standard Version.

No man put his hand to his mouth means that “no one dared to eat anything” or “no one took any of it to eat” (Bible en français courant).

The conjunction translated for introduces the reason for the soldiers’ refusal to eat. It was because of the oath that Saul had made them take (verse 24) that they declined to eat the honey.

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 .

Since the story takes an unexpected turn, it is appropriate to begin this part by translating the common conjunction as But. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses the word “However” at this point.

Staff: the Hebrew noun refers to a staff (New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible) or stick (New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New Living Translation), most likely made of wood. This may have been a stick used in walking, a weapon used in warfare, or even a symbol of his authority as the king’s son.

The honeycomb: this translates a word that occurs only here in the Old Testament. Though traditionally translated as honeycomb, the exact meaning is not certain.

As in the previous verse, the expression put his hand to his mouth means simply that “he ate.”

His eyes became bright: see also verse 29. This idiom means that he regained his strength. See the similar idiom in Psa 13.3; 19.8. New Jerusalem Bible renders this literally as “whereupon his eyes grew brighter.” If a literal translation will not express the correct meaning, it will be necessary to translate along the lines of Revised English Bible, “and [he] was refreshed,” or Contemporary English Version, “He felt stronger and more alert.”

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 .

One of the people: that is, “one of the soldiers” (New Revised Standard Version). Similarly the words charged the people will be better translated “charged the troops” (New Revised Standard Version).

Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying: Revised Standard Version inserts the word strictly because the Hebrew construction is emphatic (so also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). Fox attempts to express this aspect of the Hebrew by saying “Your father made the people swear, yes, swear, saying.”

Before translating this verse, one must decide whether the words And the people were faint are (1) part of the quotation or (2) whether they are the writer’s comment to the reader. Revised Standard Version follows the second interpretation. Good News Translation and most other versions (including New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Revised Standard Version, and Revised English Bible) follow the first interpretation. Good News Translation places these words at the beginning of the quotation and uses the first person plural, “We are all weak from hunger.”

Some consider these words And the people were faint to be a later scribal comment, taken from verse 31b. On this basis New Jerusalem Bible and Anchor Bible omit these words in translation.

Were faint: this unusual verb form means “to be weak” or “to be tired.” Since the context clearly indicates the reason that they are tired, Good News Translation adds the words “from hunger.” See also verse 31.

It will be desirable in some languages to avoid direct speech altogether. If this is the case, the following model may be helpful:

• But one of the soldiers told Jonathan about the oath that Saul had imposed on the troops, and how he had put them under a curse if they ate any food that day.

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 .