I have one small request to make of you: The wording here is quite similar to that in verse 16, where Adonijah approaches Bathsheba. But there is one significant addition here, which is the adjective translated small. This difference should certainly be reflected in the receptor language.

Do not refuse me is literally “do not turn back my face” (see the comments on this idiom in verse 16).

Make your request is literally simply “Ask” in Hebrew. It is so translated in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, but if this sounds too abrupt it may be rendered more politely in other languages. Contemporary English Version has “just tell me what you want.”

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 .