Shammah: identified as Jesse’s third son in 17.13. Shammah is called “Shimeah” in 2 Sam 13.3, 32 and “Shimea” in 2 Sam 21.21. Many translators establish as a translation principle that variant spellings of the same person’s name will be made uniform by following one spelling throughout the Old Testament.

He said: as in verse 8, this means either “Samuel said” or “Samuel thought.” Again the thought of Samuel may be expressed as indirect discourse: “Samuel said that this was not the person the LORD had chosen either.”

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 .