The king’s servants again refers to the officials who were with him, as in the previous verse. In some languages it will be more natural to refer to them by using a pronoun rather than repeating the noun phrase at this point. Similarly, when these people refer to themselves as your servants while speaking to David, most languages will prefer to use the first person plural pronoun and indicate respect in some other way.

Behold: the Hebrew particle focusing attention on what follows may be better left untranslated in some languages. But if the receptor language has a form that is used to introduce a statement in an emphatic manner, it may be considered here.

My lord the king: since the officials are speaking directly to the king, this expression will be better translated by the pronoun “you,” provided that the proper respect is shown elsewhere in the quotation.

The idea of the whole quotation is clearly and briefly stated in the Good News Translation rendering, “We are ready to do whatever you say.”

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 .