It may be possible to leave the words to the man who told him implicit in many languages. This will be especially true in those cases where the verb said is translated by “responded” or “answered” as in Good News Translation.

What, you saw him! The initial exclamation translated What in Revised Standard Version is actually the same focusing particle often rendered “Behold,” as in the previous verse, and this particle is translated “behold” by King James Version and New American Standard Bible in this verse. Here it clearly marks Joab’s surprise at the fact that the soldier had not immediately killed the enemy commander. Many languages will have a particle used to show surprise or alarm that will be suitable here. The verb translated you saw actually has no object, but what is understood is certainly either Absalom or, more probably, Absalom in his peculiar predicament. In some languages it will be more natural to say “you saw that matter!” or “you saw him like that!”

Strike him there to the ground: the expected course of action in a normal battle would have been to kill the enemy immediately rather than coming back to Joab to report having seen him hanging in the tree. But the soldier had in mind the final order of David, who pleaded for clemency for Absalom (verse 5).

The reward that may have been given to this unnamed soldier if he had killed Absalom immediately would have been ten pieces of silver and a girdle. Regarding the first of these two elements, the Hebrew text actually says simply “ten of silver.” Since the weight measurement for silver was a shekel, New International Version is justified in supplying the word “shekels.” But since “shekel” is unknown to modern readers, a translation such as that found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is better. Most modern versions, including New Revised Standard Version, translate the second term as “belt.” See the comments on 1 Sam 18.4, where a noun with the same root is also translated “girdle” in Revised Standard Version.

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 .