Some scholars claim that Samuel’s words have a verse rhythm, and for this reason some translations use poetic format for Samuel’s words (so New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant). Use of poetic form here may be confusing in some languages, so translators will need to decide whether to use poetry or prose (as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation).

Your sword has made women childless: translators should avoid giving the impression that the sword somehow acted on its own initiative. The clear implication is that Agag used his sword to kill people. If a literal rendering of this expression does not make this clear, it should probably be translated “you have made women childless with your sword” or “you have killed many people with your sword, leaving their mothers childless.”

So shall your mother be childless: the meaning in this context is not that Agag’s mother will not be able to bear more children, but rather that her son will be killed, leaving her without children. It may be necessary in some languages to say “you will be killed, leaving your mother childless.”

This verse may need to be restructured along the following lines: “your mother will become childless just as you have made other mothers childless by using your sword.” Or, if the meaning is not otherwise clear, “you will die by the sword just as you killed other people by using your sword.”

Hewed … in pieces: this renders a Hebrew word used only here in the Old Testament. The exact meaning is not known. Some render it “cut [or, hewed] in pieces” (so Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and Revised English Bible). Others use a more general word such as “cut down” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New American Bible) or “butchered” (New Jerusalem Bible). Many interpreters think that this cutting up of Agag into pieces was a ritual act or sacrifice associated with holy war.

Agag: see verse 8.

Before the LORD: in this context these words most likely mean “in front of the altar” (Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “in front of the sanctuary” (Bible en français courant and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). See 10.25 for a similar meaning.

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 .