Good News Translation has replaced the words his servants with the pronoun “them.” This refers back to the servants first mentioned in verse 15. Translators should use a form that is natural in the receptor language.

If indirect speech is more appropriate, this verse may be worded “Saul instructed those servants to find a person who could play the lyre well and to bring that one into his presence.”

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 .