And they said, that is, the Philistine people. Here again the verb “asked” may be more appropriate than said in certain languages.

The guilt offering: see the comments on verse 3.

They answered: that is, the priests and the diviners.

Five golden tumors and five golden mice: though the Hebrew does not say so explicitly until verse 5, these tumors and mice are models made of gold to resemble real tumors and mice. Translators should be consistent in how the word tumor is translated in chapters 5 and 6, whether as tumors, “hemorrhoids” (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), or “growths on your skin” (New Century Version). The words and five golden mice are not in the Septuagint nor in a Qumran manuscript. Since verse 18 seems to suggest that more than five golden mice were made, some translations omit these words here (so Anchor Bible and Klein), but translators should follow the Masoretic Text.

The word translated mice in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation may also be rendered “rats” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Contemporary English Version). The Hebrew word is a general name for all smaller rodents, but the context, which describes this animal’s eating of crops, leads some scholars to believe that the Levant mole is intended here. Translators should probably use whatever term is commonly known in their area for the rodent that ravages crops in the field. The same Hebrew term is found in Lev 11.29 and Isa 66.17.

According to the number of: since there were five lords of the Philistines (see the comments on 5.8), the same number of golden tumors and golden mice must be made. But see verses 17 and 18 below. Contemporary English Version changes the order of this verse to explain the reason for the number five at the very beginning of the priests and fortunetellers’ response. It also avoids the unnecessary repetition of certain parts of the instructions. Verses 4b and 5a read as follows in that translation:

• There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same disease that you have. So make five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out your crops….

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 .