Rose: this verb is rendered in Good News Translation by means of the adverbial expression “at once,” as it is in verse 2.

That Saul lay or was lying may be expressed more precisely as “slept” and “was sleeping” (see verse 7).

Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army: the relationship between the two elements of this phrase needs to be expressed clearly. Ner was the father of Abner (14.51), and Abner was the commander of Saul’s army (17.55).

Encampment: see the comments on this term in 17.20.

The army was encamped around him: literally “the people were camping around him.” Here, as frequently in 1 Samuel, “the people” refers to military troops. The implication of the story is clearly that all these soldiers, like their leader Saul, were sleeping. If a literal rendering of this clause implies that they are still awake, the rest of the story makes little sense.

In certain languages it will be much more natural to shift the final sentence in this verse to a position much earlier, so that the two sentences that have Saul as subject will come together. Then the sentence with David as subject will follow logically as he sees the place where Saul is sleeping.

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 .