And: it may be necessary to find a stronger transition word here. It was not merely a matter of another unrelated action by the king. It was because of Amasa’s delay that David turned to Abishai. New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible use the word “Then.” Moffatt and Good News Translation have “So.”
To Abishai: this reflects the traditional Hebrew text, but the Syriac has “to Joab,” and this is followed by Anderson. However, few other interpreters accept this reading, and it is not recommended to translators.
Your lord’s servants: since it is King David who is speaking and he is talking about the troops that are loyal to him, it will be more natural in most languages to say something like “Take my best soldiers” (Contemporary English Version) or “take the royal bodyguard” (Revised English Bible). The details on the identity of these soldiers is given in the following verse.
Lest: as indicated in earlier verses where this term is used (1.20; 12.28; 13.25; 15.14; 17.16; 1 Sam 4.9; 9.5; and others), it will be wise in many languages to begin a new sentence at this point with the words “If you don’t do this….”
Get himself fortified cities: literally, “find for himself fortified cities.” The sense seems to be that David wanted his troops to capture Sheba before Sheba and his followers had time to enter some fortified city and find protection there. Both Good News Translation and Revised English Bible express the meaning with the technical military term “to occupy” some fortified towns.
Cause us trouble: literally “and snatch away our eye.” The meaning of the Hebrew text at this point is not certain. Compare Anderson, “pluck out our eyes.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} evaluation to the reading in the Masoretic Text, while acknowledging that the exact sense of this phrase is uncertain. Some have understood it to mean “escape out of our sight” (Jewish Publication Version). Other ways of translating the Masoretic Text here include “escape from us” (New Revised Standard Version), “escapes us” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), “eludes us” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Jerusalem Bible), and “escapes (before) our eyes.” Various suggestions have been made to change the form of the Hebrew verb by changing the vowels, but apparently only Moffatt and Revised Standard Version adopt the solution of changing the consonants and creating a different verb. The meaning may well be something like “elude us” or “escape from our sight” (New American Standard Bible).
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 .