On the shifting back and forth between the second person and third person in this song, see above on verse 1.

The threefold use of the negative particle in Hebrew in this verse is a powerful poetic device and should be imitated in translation where possible.

There is none holy like the LORD: God is said to be a “holy God” in 6.20. The translation of the word holy is particularly difficult in some languages. It is used throughout the Old Testament to qualify more than fifty different nouns. In most cases the primary component of meaning is “set apart from ordinary use” or “dedicated to God.” The idea of moral purity is a secondary component in some contexts. When God is said to be holy, the focus is on the separateness, the absolute difference, and the remoteness of God from all that is part of normal human experience (see Psa 113.4-6). Translators should try to avoid using terms meaning physically “clean” or “white” to express the idea of holiness.

There is none besides thee; there is no rock like our God: in place of these two clauses found in the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint has “There is no righteous one like our God; there is none holy except you.” One Septuagint manuscript, followed by Revised English Bible, reverses lines two and three of the Septuagint text: “none holy but you and none as righteous as our God.” Some interpreters consider this second line in the Masoretic Text, there is none besides thee, to be a later scribal addition, since it addresses God in the second person and breaks the parallelism between lines one and three (so New American Bible: “There is no Holy One like the LORD; // there is no Rock like our God”).

There is no rock like our God: God is frequently called a rock in the Old Testament (2 Sam 23.3; Psa 18.2, 31, 46; 28.1). This image evokes the idea of God as the source of protection and security for his people. When the meaning of the image will not be understood, translators may choose to follow the model of Good News Translation, “no protector like our God.”

Translators should follow the Masoretic Text here. In languages that have inclusive and exclusive first person plural pronouns, our should be inclusive, that is, including the Israelites to whom Hannah is singing this song.

The structure of the three elements in this verse may have to be altered because of the nature of certain receptor languages. A possible model is:
The LORD is holy;
no one can compare with him.
He alone is God.
God protects us like a rock;
no one can compare with him.

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 .