Depending on how the last part of the previous verse is translated, it may be necessary in some languages to add something like “before he died” or “as he was dying” at the beginning of this verse in order to avoid giving the impression that David was speaking to the Amalekite after he was already dead. New Century Version resolves the problem by using a different verb form, “David had said….”

Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente provides another helpful model, restructuring the information in the previous verse and this one, numbering them 15-16. The resulting translation of the two verses is as follows:

• He then called one of his servants and ordered him:
“Come here and kill this man!”
And he said to the Amalekite:
“May you be responsible for your own death. You have pronounced your own condemnation when you said that you had killed the consecrated king of the LORD.”
The servant struck the Amalekite and killed him.

David said to him: the pronoun him could possibly refer either to the Amalekite or to the person who was appointed to kill him and who struck the blow. Good News Translation and New Century Version make it clear that the Amalekite messenger is intended.

Your blood be upon your head: a literal rendering of this phrase may easily be misunderstood in some languages. The idea here is that the Amalekite soldier is responsible for his own death (see Lev 20.9, 11, 12, 13, 16). In addition to the Good News Translation rendering, some other possible models are “You are responsible for your own death” (New American Bible) and “You convicted yourself [out of your own mouth]…” (New Jerusalem Bible). Similar expressions are found in Josh 2.19; 1 Kgs 2.37; and Ezek 33.4.

Your own mouth has testified: since the mouth is not independent of the person speaking, in certain languages this may seem like a strange way of wording things. Some may prefer to say “you yourself have testified” or “you condemned yourself by saying…” (Revised English Bible).

The direct quote of the words of the Amalekite within the quotation from King David may present certain problems in the receptor language. They may be made indirect by saying something like “when you said that you had killed the LORD’s chosen king.”

The LORD’s anointed: see verse 14 above.

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 .