Abinadab: identified as Jesse’s secondborn son in 17.13. Here, as with Eliab in verse 6, Good News Translation identifies Abinadab as Jesse’s “son.”

Made him pass before Samuel: there is no emphasis on the coercion of an unwilling subject in this phrase or in verse 9 where the same form is used. Contemporary English Version here translates freely “Jesse told his son Abinadab to go over to Samuel.”

And he said: that is, Samuel said or “Samuel thought.” See also verse 9. But in some languages indirect discourse will be more appropriate here: “But Samuel rejected him also because he was not the one that the LORD had chosen.”

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 .