Made answer: as in 26.22, this rendering may be misleading. The Hebrew text says quite literally “answered” and should be so translated.

Achish’s own words begin in this verse and continue through the end of verse 10. Within his words are the words of the commanders: He shall not go up with us to the battle. It may be necessary in some languages to reword the end of this verse to make an indirect quotation, as in Good News Translation.

As an angel of God: Achish compares David to an angel of God, but the precise point of comparison is not certain. Hebrew says literally “you are good in my sight as an angel of God.” In Revised Standard Version the Hebrew word for “good” is rendered as blameless, and in Good News Translation, as “loyal.” Revised English Bible says “as true to me as an angel of God.” New Jerusalem Bible and Contemporary English Version say simply “as good as…,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, “as acceptable to me as….” These various translations show that interpreters are not sure how the Hebrew word, usually translated “good,” should be translated here. The context seems to favor the idea of “loyalty.”

The Septuagint does not have the words as an angel of God. Several translations are based on the Septuagint text here (New American Bible, Anchor Bible, Klein, La Bible Pléiade within parentheses). Anchor Bible translates “in my opinion you are a good man.”

The word translated angel in Revised Standard Version is the same as rendered “messenger(s)” in 6.21; 11.3; 16.19. The term is often taken in the sense of a heavenly messenger, especially when used together with the word for God, as is the case here. Translators will have probably already struggled with the translation of this term both in the Old Testament (Gen 16.7; 21.17) and the New Testament (Matt 1.20; Luke 1.11; Acts 10.3). But in this context it may be reasonable to translate “a messenger from God.”

The commanders of the Philistines: see the comments on verse 3. It is possible that in this context the expression the commanders of the Philistines is simply another way of referring to the “lords [or, kings] of the Philistines” (so Good News Translation), but it is not at all certain. Translators therefore are not encouraged to follow the model of Good News Translation on this point.

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 .