Many modern versions begin a new paragraph already at verse 16 (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet) and La Bible du Semeur even starts a new section at that point. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch begins a new section with verse 15b. Others, however, include verse 16 in the previous paragraph and begin the new paragraph at this point (Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Since verses 17-18 show what happened to the king’s adviser (who was introduced in verse 2), it seems better to make verses 17-18 (or verses 17-20) a separate paragraph.
Now the king had appointed: Now renders the common Hebrew conjunction. In Hebrew the normal order of subject and verb is reversed here to indicate that the appointment made by the king took place earlier than the looting of the Syrian camp by the people of Samaria. The past perfect tense of had appointed shows this in English.
The captain on whose hand he leaned: See the comments at verse 2.
The meaning of the words to have charge of the gate is made clear in Bible en français courant: “to go watch over what was taking place in the market, at the city gate.” See the comments on the gate at verse 1.
The people trod upon him in the gate, so that he died: Translators should be careful to avoid giving the impression that the people intentionally killed this officer by trampling him to death. His death was rather accidental insofar as the people were concerned. In order to show the unintentional nature of his death, Nouvelle Bible Segond says “this one was trampled by the people who were pressing at the gate, and he died.”
As the man of God had said: Even though the people accidentally killed this man, his death is seen by the writer as God’s judgment on him because of his unbelief. This was in fulfillment of the words of Elisha in verse 2, who had stated that this man would not live to enjoy the promised bounty because of his doubt. In Hebrew the end of this verse is literally “just as the man of God had said, which he said when the king came down to him.” The repetition of the verb “said” will be redundant in many languages, so its second occurrence may be omitted.
As in verse 2, the expression the man of God may be replaced by the proper name “Elisha” (so Good News Translation).
When the king came down to him; that is, “when the king visited him” (Revised English Bible). This seems to be a reference to 6.33, where it says “the king came down to him.” This would therefore be the setting for the officer’s refusal to believe Elisha’s prophecy in verses 1-2.
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 .