Climbed up on his hands and feet: this expression is probably intended to show the steepness of the ascent, although some readers may possibly take it to indicate that Jonathan and his armorbearer disappeared from view and crawled stealthily toward the Philistines in order to surprise them. Translators should ensure that readers do not adopt this mistaken notion.

They fell: that is, the Philistine soldiers. The text seems to mean that Jonathan first knocked the Philistines unconscious and then his armorbearer “finished them off behind him” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). But others take the verb fell before to be a euphemism for dying in battle. If this is the case, the meaning would then be that “some fell to Jonathan himself, and some to the squire [armorbearer] as he came up behind him” (Knox). And it is true that in some contexts “fall before” someone means to be killed (Lev 26.7, 8).

After him: the pronoun him may refer to the armorbearer rather than to Jonathan, as in Revised Standard Version. The sense will then be that the armorbearer killed those who attacked him from behind. Contemporary English Version goes along with the general idea of Knox: “Jonathan killed the Philistines who attacked from the front, and the soldier killed those who attacked from behind.”

The interpretation most widely accepted is that found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, and it is the one recommended in this Handbook. Compare New American Bible: “he [Jonathan] cut them down, and his armor-bearer followed him and finished them off.”

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 .