There is no transition word in Revised Standard Version reflecting the Hebrew conjunction in this case. But in most languages a rather strong transition word will be required here. Several translations have “but” (New International Version, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Anchor Bible, and Goldman), and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “instead.”
According to 3.7 Rizpah was a concubine of Saul. But this is the only mention of her two sons. Saul had both a son and a grandson named Mephibosheth. In addition to Jonathan’s son, mentioned in the previous verse, there was another person named Mephibosheth, one of Saul’s sons by his concubine Rizpah. In order to avoid confusing the reader, some translators may wish to make this implied information clear by saying something like “another man named Mephibosheth” in this case.
In some languages it will be much more natural to put the names before the description of their lineage, rather than afterward as in Revised Standard Version and the Hebrew original. Naturalness in the receptor language should be the determining factor in deciding what order to follow here.
Merab: the traditional Hebrew text, which has “Michal” at this point, is followed by a number of versions, including King James Version, New King James Version , Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. “Michal” is almost certainly a mistake, since 6.23 says that Saul’s daughter Michal had no children, although it is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives it only a {D} rating. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the name “Michal” here is another name for the woman named Merab in 1 Sam 18.19, and that those manuscripts that read Merab here reflect attempts to avoid a contradiction with 6.23 and do not give evidence that Merab was the original reading of the Hebrew. If translators follow the recommendation of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, they may wish to state this explanation in a footnote.
Two Hebrew manuscripts as well as several ancient versions have the name “Merab” at this point. And both New American Standard Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which are normally very close to the traditional Hebrew text, actually translate “Merab” in this case. Other versions adopting the same reading as Revised Standard Version are New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Century Version as well as Good News Translation.
In an apparent attempt to combine the two readings and solve the problems of the text, Living Bible speaks of “the five adopted sons of Michal that she brought up for Saul’s daughter Merab.” While this follows the traditional explanation of the textual difficulty here, it is definitely not recommended that translators put this in the actual text of the receptor language translation. Such speculation should appear, if at all, only in a footnote.
Barzillai: this person should not be confused with “Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim” mentioned in 17.27 and 19.31-39.
The Meholathite: see 1 Sam 18.19.
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 .