And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered And is translated by the contrastive connector “But” in Good News Translation and Luther, implying that it did no good for Saul and his sons to flee because the Philistines caught up with them anyway. Overtook translates a causative form of a verb meaning “cling to” or “keep close to.” It has been rendered “pursued” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “closely pursued” (Revised English Bible), “hotly pursued” (American Bible), “closed in on” (New Living Translation), “bore down on” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “pressed hard after” (New International Version, New American Bible). Compare also the idiomatic expression “stayed right on the heels of” ( NET Bible).

And the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul: The verb slew is somewhat archaic, so New Revised Standard Version and most other modern versions say “killed.” English Standard Version uses the less common expression “struck down.” His sons and the sons of Saul may be interpreted to mean all of Saul’s sons, but Saul did have other sons who were not involved in this battle. Information elsewhere in the Old Testament indicates that Saul had at least one other son in addition to these three (see 1 Chr 8.33; 1 Sam 14.49; 2 Sam 2.8). If a literal translation of this verse will incorrectly suggest that Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua were Saul’s only sons, it may be preferable to add the implicit information that they were “three of” Saul’s sons (Good News Translation). They are listed as Saul’s sons in 1 Chr 8.33 and 9.39.

Revised Standard Version maintains the form of the Hebrew in this verse by repeating the words the Philistines and sons of Saul. This is not natural English style, so Good News Translation slightly restructures the verse.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .