What more can David say to thee for honoring thy servant? is literally “What can David add to you for honoring your servant?” With this rhetorical question David says there is nothing more he can say about the way God has honored him. David refers to himself in the third person as David and thy servant. Good News Translation changes these third person references to first person as also does Nouvelle Bible Segond and several other modern versions. The purpose of such indirect references is to show respect for the person addressed, in this case God. It will not be possible to keep the indirect reference in some languages, but it may be possible to convey the idea of great respect in some other way. Contemporary English Version attempts to do so by beginning this verse with “I am your servant….” Contrary to nearly all other translations, Braun understands the object for the verb honoring to be God rather than David, so he translates this question as “How can David give you more honor” (similarly Knoppers).

For thou knowest thy servant: The force of this clause in connection with the question may be understood in two different ways: (1) Good News Translation understands the verse to mean that even though God knows David well, he has nevertheless honored David, and so David can say nothing more to express his gratitude to God. (2) Perhaps more likely the sense is that even though David is very grateful to God for his promises, David can find no more words to express his gratitude, but God knows the degree of David’s gratitude even if David does not express it in words. In this context the Hebrew word rendered knowest means “to choose” or “to love” as it does also in other Old Testament passages (see, for example, Gen 18.19; Amos 3.2).

As elsewhere in Revised Standard Version, the use of the archaic forms such as thee, thou, and knowest in this prayer do not reflect anything in the Hebrew and should not be reflected in other translations.

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 .