Sent and told: yet another use of the two-verb construction, where the verb “send” has no grammatical object in the sentence. The meaning is that Joab “sent someone to tell…,” “sent a messenger” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), or, as New American Bible puts it, “sent David a report.” The implied object of the verb “send” is expressed already in the following verse as “the messenger.” The message is worded in such a way as to be fully meaningful only to David.

All the news about the fighting: literally “all the matters [or, words] of the battle.” This involved the details about the particular battle in which Uriah had been killed. Good News Translation omits the word “all,” but there is no clear reason why this should be done. New American Bible offers a helpful model, with “all the details of the battle.”

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 .