Mourned and wept: the first of these two terms is more general and perhaps more internal in nature, while the second usually indicates audible or voiced sounds demonstrating grief. Although Good News Translation does not do so, most English versions retain a word like “wept” or “cried” to translate the second verb.
Fasted: that is, refused to eat food, or abstained from eating. Intentionally abstaining from eating was either to show a person’s sorrow for sin or to show sadness about the death of a relative or friend. In this context the action showed that the people were saddened by the news of the death of Saul. See 1 Sam 7.6.
Jonathan his son: for reasons of English style, Good News Translation does not repeat the information that Jonathan was Saul’s son, which is stated several times in 1 Samuel.
For the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel: it is possible that these two expressions refer to the same group of people. If so, the use of the conjunction “and” to join them is ill advised and should be avoided. In fact a note in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible states that the people of the LORD and the house of Israel “are here practically equivalent.” In some languages the best way to say this may be “for the people of the LORD, that is, the Israelites” or “… the descendants of Israel,” since the word house means “descendants” in this case.
More likely, however, is that the words the people of the LORD refer specifically to the soldiers (see 1 Sam 18.13; 23.8). Fox translates as “the fighting-people of YHWH.” New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible say “for the army of the LORD and for the house of Israel.” Similar is Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, “for the defeat of the people of the LORD and of the Israelites killed in battle.” See also La Bible du Semeur for a similar translation.
Since Jonathan and Saul were considered both “people of the LORD” and members of “the house of Israel,” it may be necessary in some languages to add the word “other” at some point. For example, “mourned for Saul and Jonathan, and for the other Israelites….”
Fallen by the sword: as indicated by the translation in Good News Translation, this means those who “had been killed in battle.” See verse 4 above on the use of the verb “fallen.”
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 .