The wording of this verse seems to imply that the number of golden mice was greater than the number of golden tumors, since there would have been more than five fortified cities and unwalled villages. See also comments on 5.8 concerning all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords.

Fortified cities and unwalled villages: similar terms occur in Deut 3.5. Since verse 4 states that five golden mice were to be made, it is strange to read in this verse that a golden mouse was sent for each of the five fortified cities and one also for each of the unwalled villages associated with the fortified cities. In some versions unwalled villages are called “open settlements” (Revised English Bible) or “open villages” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

The great stone, that is, “the large rock in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh” (see verse 14). The Hebrew text, however, has “the great ʾAbel” (meaning “meadow”), to which King James Version added in italics “the great stone in Abel.”

The Hebrew preposition translated beside in Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version is translated “on” in Good News Translation, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible. This would mean that the rock in question was a rather flat and low in form and not a tall, pointed one. Both translations are possible, and since there is no way to know which is correct, translators must simply choose one or the other interpretation.

To this day: see the comments on 5.5.

The great stone … is a witness: two textual matters require discussion in this verse.
(1) In Hebrew the words “stone” and “meadow” each have three consonants, and only the final consonant is different. The Hebrew word for “meadow” may also be a proper noun, “Abel.” The Septuagint has the word “stone,” but the Masoretic Text has the word ʾabel, which may be rendered either “as far as the great meadow on which the ark of the LORD was set down” or “as far as Greater Abel, where the ark of the LORD was set down.”
(2) The adverb “as far as” and the noun “witness” have the same two consonants in Hebrew and differ only in the vowel. The Masoretic Text contains the word “as far as.”

Translations reflect a number of different solutions to these difficulties:
(a) some follow the Septuagint in translating the great stone and in correcting the Hebrew text to say “witness” rather than “as far as” (so Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible).
(b) some follow the Septuagint in reading the great stone, but follow the Masoretic Text “as far as” and do not change the Hebrew to say “witness.” Nouvelle version Segond révisée, for example, says “as far as the large stone on which they placed the ark of the LORD and which is still today in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.” Compare the similar rendering in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh: “as far as the great stone on which the Ark of the LORD was set down, to this day, in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.” This solution is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives a {B} rating to this reading.
(c) some follow the Masoretic Text and understand ʾabel to be a place name; but they insert the word “stone” in italics, indicating that the word is not in the Hebrew but should be so understood. King James Version, for example, says “even unto the great stone of Abel” (so also Almeida).
(d) some, following the Masoretic Text in reading “as far as,” understand ʾabel to mean “meadow” and the word “stone” to be implicit in the adjective great and required as something that remained a long time in the field. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, for example, says “and to the meadow of the great stone.”

The authors of this handbook recommend that the text established in Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament be followed instead of the texts followed by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Beth-shemesh was near Philistine territory, and the sense is that these unwalled Philistine villages extended “as far as” the town of Beth-shemesh, where the stone was. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh represents the recommended interpretation to be followed:

• As for the golden mice, their number accorded with all the Philistine towns that belonged to the five lords—both the fortified towns and unwalled villages as far as the great stone on which the Ark of the LORD was set down, to this day, in the field of Joshua of Beth-Shemesh.

In the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translation just cited, the words to this day seem to suggest that the covenant box was still sitting on the great stone at the time this book was written. The correct meaning is clearly expressed in Contemporary English Version: “The huge stone where the Levites set the chest is still there in Joshua’s field as a reminder of what happened.”

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 .