Note immediately that the order of the elements in this verse is considerably changed in Good News Translation, which puts the parts about the greatness of the city of Abel at the beginning. Translators should consider which order sounds more natural in their own language.

I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel: the first person singular pronoun is used because the woman is speaking as a representative of her whole community. For this reason a wide variety of versions change to the plural pronoun “we” (Goldman, New International Version, and Contemporary English Version). Revised English Bible resolves the problem by translating “my town” in place of “I.” The point the woman was making was that Abel was a peace-loving city that had been loyal in Israel. The Hebrew word rendered faithful implies firmness and stability.

A city which is a mother in Israel: literally “a city and a mother in Israel” (King James Version). This means that the city of Abel was an important and respected one in Israel. There were probably a number of smaller surrounding villages that depended on Abel and, according to the more poetic Hebrew expression, these were called “daughters.” The idea of the “mother city” may be best translated “a very important city” or “a great and respected city.” New Jerusalem Bible has “a metropolis.” But in other cases it will be possible to retain the image and say “like a mother in Israel” (Contemporary English Version) or something similar, depending on how such an expression was understood.

Swallow up: the verbal expression here speaks of destruction, and it will be only rarely that a language will be able to translate this literally. Most languages will require a verb like “destroy” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “kill” (Revised English Bible), “spoil,” or “ruin.” Likewise it will not be natural in many languages to translate literally the Hebrew verb “kill” when speaking of a city. For this reason Revised Standard Version says destroy a city.

The heritage of the LORD: the same expression is used in 1 Sam 26.19, where it refers to the land of Israel as a whole. Here the city of Abel is characterized as belonging to the LORD because it was a part of Israel. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “the LORD’s possession.” Others may prefer to say “something that belongs to the LORD.”

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 .