He said … he said …: The verb said occurs twice in this verse, with different subjects. At the beginning of the verse the servant is the subject of the verb, but Elijah is the subject of the second verb.
Behold, a little cloud: The Hebrew focusing particle translated Behold is ignored by many modern versions, but it serves to highlight the appearance of the small cloud after seeing nothing the previous times.
Like a man’s hand: The word rendered hand is the Hebrew word for “palm.” The Hebrew does not mean “in the shape of a human hand,” but rather it means “like the small size of a human hand.” But since Hebrew uses the word for “palm,” translators are not advised to follow New Century Version, which says “the size of a human fist” (similarly Contemporary English Version). There is, of course, no special emphasis on the fact that the comparison is made with the hand of a man rather than a woman. The idea is that the cloud was so small that it is compared to “a human hand” or “a person’s hand” (New Revised Standard Version).
Is rising out of the sea: While clouds may appear to come up out of the sea, this is not literally the case. If this is understood literally in a language, it may be better to say “is coming from the direction of the sea” or “is appearing over the sea.” Revised English Bible translates “coming up from the west.” As in the previous verse, the sea is the Mediterranean Sea.
Go up simply means “Go” in this context (so Good News Translation; see verses 41 and 43).
Prepare your chariot translates a single Hebrew verb meaning “Harness up” (New American Bible) or “Hitch up” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Anchor Bible) with the words your chariot only implied. But Revised Standard Version correctly conveys the essential meaning. For chariot see the comments on 1.5-6.
Go down means go down from Mount Carmel.
Lest the rain stop you: The meaning of this expression may be better given in a separate sentence as in New Living Translation, which reads “If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you” (similarly International Children’s Bible).
The words of Elijah to his servant contain an embedded quotation, which gives the words that the servant was to say to King Ahab. In order to avoid confusion in the receptor language, it may be advisable to change this into indirect speech as in Good News Translation. Another possible model is that of Contemporary English Version, which says “Elijah told him, ‘Tell Ahab to get his chariot ready and start home now. Otherwise, the rain will stop him.’ ”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .