Wallowing in his blood: the basic meaning of the verb used here is “roll.” Some scholars have proposed that this Hebrew verb may sometimes mean “to pollute” or “to defile,” and it is this meaning that is followed in some translations. But in this context the likely meaning is “drenched” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Knox) or “covered with” (New American Bible, New Century Version, Good News Translation). If Amasa was actively rolling in his blood, he was not yet dead. But the likelihood is that he was dead and that the verb should be translated “covered with.”

Highway: the use of this term may give some readers the idea of a paved road. Since this was not the case, it is probably better to say simply “road” or possibly “the main road.”

The reference to the man here is to the same soldier mentioned at the beginning of the previous verse as “one of Joab’s men.” Contemporary English Version translates “The soldier who had shouted.”

Garment: while the Hebrew word found here is often used of clothing, its basic meaning is “a covering,” usually made of cloth. It was therefore not necessarily a piece of clothing, as the word garment (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version) or “cloak” (New Jerusalem Bible) may suggest. The same word is translated by Revised Standard Version as “a cloth” in Num 4.6 and in other passages where there is no notion of something worn by human beings. This is why Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have felt free to translate “a blanket,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “a covering.” Perhaps New Century Version will be the best model for some languages: “a cloth.”

Following the words threw a garment over him, the Hebrew text has the following words, which are not translated in Good News Translation: “as who saw everyone coming to him and stopped.” Revised Standard Version, and similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New International Version, has moved these final words to the middle of the verse and translated them as And any one who came by, seeing him, stopped. Since these final words basically repeat the essential meaning of the words when the man saw that all the people stopped earlier in this verse, some textual scholars take this as an unintentional repetition of the previous line by a copyist. Anchor Bible, and also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and Anderson, take these words as a summary explanation of why the body was removed: “for he could see that anyone who came upon him would stop” (Anchor Bible). Revised English Bible translates these final words as “for everyone who came by stopped at the sight of the body.” It may be that some modern translations have omitted this repetition for translation reasons rather than because of textual considerations (so, for example, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). Translations that include these words are King James Version, New Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible.

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 .