These young men, who were Nabal’s servants, confirm what David’s men had said in verse 7. See also verse 21.

We suffered no harm may be expressed with David’s men as subject of the sentence if it seems more natural to do so in the receptor language: “they did not harm us.” See verse 7.

We did not miss anything: or “they did not steal anything.” See the comments at verse 7.

Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation translate the Hebrew in the fields quite literally. As the next verse indicates, the idea here is that these men were exposed in the open, with no natural protection, when they were in the fields. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “all the time that we went about with them while we were in the open.”

As long as we went with them: or “the whole time we were with them.”

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 .