The information concerning the ancestry of Elkanah is rearranged in Good News Translation to follow the more natural English order, giving the name first and then other details about the person. Translators should present this information in an order that is logical and natural in their own language rather than following the order of any particular English version.
The words There was are literally “And there was.” Other books begin in the same way (Ruth, Jonah, Esther), where the word “And” does not indicate a connection to the previous book. So nearly all translations omit it. Some languages have devices that must appear at the beginning of a story to indicate whether it is considered historical or imaginary. If this is the case, the account that follows should be introduced in such a way as to indicate that the writer considered it historical.
Ramathaim-zophim: the Hebrew is literally “Ha-Ramathaim-zophim,” which means “the two heights.” As the next paragraph will show, the word zophim should be read as “Zuphite,” meaning that the city of Ramathaim is in the district of Zuph. According to 1 Sam 1.19; 2.11; 7.17; 15.34; 19.18, and certain other passages, the name of this town is Ramah. It is probably located about forty kilometers (twenty-five miles) northwest of Jerusalem. This Ramah in the hill country (New Jerusalem Bible [New Jerusalem Bible] “highlands”) of Ephraim should not be confused with the Ramah of Benjamin, about nine kilometers (six miles) north of Jerusalem on the border of Israel and Judah. Possibly Ramah of Ephraim (called “Armathaim” in the Septuagint) is to be identified with the New Testament city of Arimathea (Matt 27.57). Translators are encouraged to translate this place name the same here as in other verses, where it is called Ramah (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and the French common language translation [Bible en français courant]).
Though some modern translations maintain the name Ramathaim-zophim (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), most follow the Greek text and say “a Zuphite” (New Revised Standard Version [New Revised Standard Version], Revised English Bible [Revised English Bible], New American Bible [New American Bible], New International Version [New International Version]) or “of the Zuphites” (New Jewish Publication Society version, or TANAKH [New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh]), meaning that he belonged to the Zuphite clan (see 1 Chr 6.34-35), that is, he was a descendant of Zuph, who is mentioned at the end of this verse. Such a translation requires only a slight change of one vowel in the Hebrew tsofim plus the assumption that the final letter (m) has been incorrectly repeated from the next Hebrew word. The Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) recommends this change, though giving it only a {C} rating, as does Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament (Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament), the final report of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project.
The descendants of Zuph apparently named a district in his honor, and Ramah was located in this district. So the word “Zuphite” may refer to the area or district in which the city of Ramatha was located (see 1 Sam 9.5). The French common language version (Bible en français courant), following this understanding, says “in the district of Zuph.”
The hill country of Ephraim refers to the central mountainous area of Palestine where the tribe of Ephraim had settled (see Josh 17.15). Since expressions where two nouns are joined by the word of can often be understood in several different ways, it will be necessary in certain languages to say something like “the mountainous area belonging to the tribe of Ephraim” or “the region of hills where the Ephraimites lived.”
Jeroham: though other men in the Old Testament have this same name, Jeroham the father of Elkanah is mentioned only here and in 1 Chr 6.27, 34.
Tohu is called “Toah” in 1 Chr 6.34 and “Nahath” in 1 Chr 6.26. Since these three are all variants of the same name, the same spelling should probably be used in each case.
Zuph is identified in this verse as a member of the tribe of Ephraim. According to 1 Chr 6.25, however, he is a Levite, that is, a descendant of Levi’s son Kohath. Various attempts have been made by scholars to explain this difference, but this is a difficulty for interpreters and not for translators, who should translate the text as it stands.
An Ephraimite: this Hebrew word may be understood as referring either (1) to an Ephrathite, that is, a member of the Judahite clan of Ephrathah, as in 1 Sam 17.12, or (2) to an Ephraimite, that is, a member of the tribe of Ephraim, as in Judges 12.5. The note in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “either the Judean clan of Ephrathah, or the tribe of Ephraim.” Ephrathah is identified with the city of Bethlehem in Gen 35.19 and 48.7. The two terms are used together in Micah 5.2 and in parallel in Ruth 4.11. Most likely this Hebrew word here means an Ephraimite, that is, “a member of the tribe of Ephraim.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .