Your handmaid: this is an indirect reference to herself which shows respect for the king. It will be most natural in many languages to translate this expression by the first person singular pronoun. The Hebrew noun translated handmaid is the same as that used in 1 Sam 1.18. A different noun is translated “handmaid” in 1 Sam 25.24 and “servant” in verse 15 below, but the two nouns are synonyms with no clear difference in meaning. The expression here is similar to “your servant” in 9.2 and 1 Sam 17.32-36. Good News Translation attempts to show the same degree of respect in a more natural way in English by beginning with the word “Sir.”

Good News Translation and some other common-language translations such as Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje also add “one day” to the speech of the woman, in order to make it flow more naturally.

The story told by the woman has parallels with the account of Cain and Abel in Gen 4. The two brothers were in the field, and they quarreled before one killed the other.

There was no one to part them: in some languages this may be better expressed “there was no person to stop the fight” or “no one was there to step between them.”

The verbs struck and killed may be rendered by a single verb in some languages. The idea is that the man killed his brother by means of a blow. But it is not clear whether the blow was with his hand or with some other instrument. In those languages that have different verbs for hitting with the fist and striking with an object, a choice will have to be made, and it may be better to show that an object was used.

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 .