She came and told the man of God: The point of view of the writer seems to be at the side of the prophet, but in other languages it will be more natural to use the verb “went” in place of came. It may also be necessary to place the words the man of God after the verb came. The woman left her house and sought the prophet to give him the news of what had happened. In many languages the verb told will have to be amplified to say something like “told him what had happened,” “informed him about the oil,” or “reported the [good] news to him.”
The man of God refers to the prophet Elisha. See the comments on 1 Kgs 12.22 and 13.1. Here it may be rendered “Elisha, the prophet” (Good News Translation), or simply “the prophet” (Bible en français courant) or “Elisha” (Contemporary English Version).
Go, sell the oil: Good News Translation leaves implicit that the woman is to Go. There is no real difference in meaning between Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation here.
Pay your debts: Some may wish to say “pay all the money that you owe to other people” or possibly “pay the creditor,” using the term found at the beginning of the story in the woman’s appeal to Elisha (verse 1). The margin of the Masoretic Text corrects the text to read “creditor” rather than debts, but the meaning is basically the same.
You and your sons can live on the rest: The remainder of the money after paying all debts would be sufficient for the woman and her two sons to provide for their daily needs. The idiom “to live on” may be very difficult to express in certain languages. Some possible models are “you can use the rest of the money to buy food for yourself and your sons,” “you and your sons will have enough money left for the things you need for living,” and “there will be enough money left over to support you and your sons” (New Living Translation).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .