The terms for pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot may present certain difficulties for translators, since it is often necessary to know their shape and what kind of material they were made of. The word for pan is the same as that translated “laver” in Exo 30.18 and Lev 8.11. It refers to a relatively shallow container that was made of bronze, in at least some cases. A kettle is mentioned less frequently in the Scriptures, and the same Hebrew word is often translated “basket” (2 Kgs 10.7; Psa 81.6; Jer 24.2), though sometimes “caldron” (2 Chr 35.13) or “boiling pot” (Job 41.20) is used. It would have been a relatively deeper container, probably also made of some kind of metal, or possibly of clay in this context. The word here translated caldron occurs elsewhere only in Micah 3.3, and it is not known what this receptacle was made of. The word translated pot is found elsewhere only twice (Num 11.8; Judges 6.19). It probably refers to a kind of earthenware container.

Fork: see verse 13.

For himself: Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the LatinVulgate here. But the Hebrew text does not say for himself. The Hebrew says “on it,” which is taken to mean “on the fork.” Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh: “and whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take away on it.” But the Septuagint seems to express what is at least implicit in the Hebrew, and for translation reasons it is acceptable to add the words “for himself.”

The last sentence should be translated according to the decision made in verse 13. According to Good News Translation and La Bible du Semeur the sense is “So this is what they, that is, Eli’s sons, did at Shiloh.” Revised English Bible, however, understands these words as an expression of what priests should do, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh understands them as an expression of what priests in general used to do. If the interpretation of Good News Translation was followed in verse 13, it should be followed here as well.

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 .