Go then, pass on: Ittai and his men are given permission to continue marching with the rest of David’s group. The verb translated pass on is often used of crossing over a river or stream. It is apparently for this reason that Knox has “pass on over the stream.” The context of the next verse also lends some support to this interpretation.

It may be necessary in certain languages to transform the direct quotation of this verse into indirect discourse. Possible models are “So David agreed, telling them that they could join him” or “David then accepted their request and told them to advance.”

The little ones who were with him: this expression almost certainly refers to more than just infant children. For this reason modern English versions use words like “families” (New International Version, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Contemporary English Version) and “dependents” (New American Bible, Revised English Bible, and Anderson as well as Good News Translation). It may be a mistake to translate “children” as in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New Jerusalem Bible, if the reader may understand this to exclude the women and older people who were unable to take care of themselves.

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 .