The structure of this verse may need to be modified in some languages to make it read more naturally. The parenthetical phrase of Revised Standard Version may be shifted forward and made into a separate sentence. The repetition in the verse may also be reduced. Compare Good News Translation.
He cut the hair of his head: literally “he shaved his head” (so New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Fox). Many translations have “cut” his hair (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), apparently on the assumption that Absalom would have trimmed his hair and not have shaved off all of his hair. Since the Hebrew verb is used in some contexts for trimming the hair, either “shaved” or “cut” is acceptable here. An expression like the Revised Standard Version rendering will be redundant in some languages—especially those which have different words for the hair that grows on the top of the head and that which is found elsewhere on the body.
Two hundred shekels: the weight of a shekel was about 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). The modern equivalent of two hundred of these will therefore be “more than two kilos” (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “about five pounds,” as indicated in the American edition of Good News Translation and the New International Version footnote. The term shekels does not refer to coins, since coins with this name were not made until about the seventh century B.C. It will therefore be inappropriate to speak of “coins called shekel” at this point. It will be far better to convert the weight into a meaningful equivalent in the receptor language. The ancient Greek version of this verse says “a hundred shekels” (Anchor Bible), which may be less of an exaggeration, but the evidence is not strong enough for translators to follow it in this case. Both the traditional Hebrew text and the manuscripts from the Dead Sea have the figure “two hundred.”
By the king’s weight: wherever there are weights and measures used by a large group of people, there must be a standard. Gen 23.16 speaks of “four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.” Similarly the expression “shekel of the sanctuary” is common in the Pentateuch (see Exo 30.12; Lev 5.15; 27.3, 25; and Num 7). The expression used here is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament but indicates that the standard for weights and measures at this point in the history of Israel must have been set by the king. The very presence of this phrase seems to indicate that the readers may have been familiar with other standards. Some possible translations include “by the royal standard” (New International Version), “by the official weight of the king” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), and “using the measures approved by the king.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .