Rose in the night: The rendering of this expression should help the reader to understand that it was still dark and that the four lepers had not waited until morning to report the good news. However, as soon as the king heard the message, he immediately assumed it to be a part of a plot by the enemy forces. Some possible models indicating the time when the king got out of bed are “got out of bed before sunrise” or “got up while it was still dark” (New Jerusalem Bible).
His servants were almost certainly very high-level subordinates of the king (see the comments on 1 Kgs 1.2). Good News Translation rightly calls them “his officials.” Some other possible renderings are “his officers” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New Century Version), “his high [military] officers” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), and “his staff” (Revised English Bible).
I will tell you …: Instead of a literal rendering of these words, it may be more natural in certain languages to say “Let me tell you…” (New American Bible). The Hebrew text contains a particle of entreaty here, which is sometimes translated “please” (see the comments on 1 Kgs 1.12). The king then outlines what he mistakenly believes to be the strategy of the Syrian army. He thinks that they are attempting to attract his army to a position outside the fortified city in order to capture them there.
In this context several translations correctly say “we are starving” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) rather than simply we are hungry.
Open country translates a Hebrew noun that refers to pastureland or fields. The rendering open country may give the incorrect idea that there were not hiding places there. A better translation is “countryside” or “fields” (Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
When they come out of the city …: This embedded quotation is introduced by the word thinking, which renders the verb “to say” in Hebrew. In quite a few languages it will be much more natural to make this quotation within the larger one into an indirect statement, as Good News Translation and New American Bible have done.
The city is, of course, Samaria, as Bible en français courant and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente make explicit by saying “They are certain that we will go out of Samaria….”
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 .