For this entire verse, see the parallel verse in 19.10.

Cast the spear: the Hebrew leaves implicit that Saul cast the spear “at David.”

He thought: literally “he said.” Traditional versions say that “he said” (King James Version and Reina-Valera revisada), without indicating to whom he spoke. In certain contexts this verb should be translated as “thought” or “said to himself.” The direct quotation will be more naturally translated as indirect discourse in some languages, since it represents the thoughts of Saul. A possible model is “Saul thought he would be able to pin David to the wall.”

The beginning of this verse in Hebrew is literally “and Saul threw the spear and he said I will strike in David and in the wall.” In an attempt to keep the form of the Hebrew, Fox says “I will strike David and the wall (together)!” But such a translation, unlike Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, is not idiomatic English. The expression pin David to the wall may have to be made more explicit. To pin someone to the wall means to throw a spear so hard that it goes through the person’s body or clothing and sticks into the wall behind him. The person is then unable to move. One African language has to say “I will hit him with my spear against the wall.”

Good News Translation makes explicit what is implied in the statement that David evaded him twice, namely that Saul threw a spear at David two times.

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 .