Servants: this term again refers to the “officials” of David who were accompanying him.

The repetition of King David after having just mentioned David in the previous line may be considered awkward in some languages, but the author probably did this to emphasize the fact that it was royalty that was being attacked.

Mighty men: see 10.7.

On his right hand and on his left: it may be rather awkward to try to say this literally in certain languages. What is meant is that David was protected by men “all around him” or “on every side.”

It is not clear from the Hebrew grammar whether Shimei threw stones at all of the people or only at David and his officials. Since the nouns in the second half of the verse do not have the direct object marker in Hebrew, the second interpretation seems more likely correct. The second half of this verse should probably be translated as in Good News Translation to indicate that Shimei did this “even though” or “despite the fact that” David was surrounded by men protecting him. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Even the elite troops, who surrounded David, didn’t scare him off.”

As often in 1 and 2 Samuel, the Hebrew noun the people refers to the soldiers, and more specifically here to the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the Gittites mentioned in 15.18. The mighty men most likely refers to David’s personal bodyguard. Anderson (and similarly Osty-Trinquet) provides a good model, “the army and the elite troops.”

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 .