The transition conjunction at the beginning of this verse may be rendered in some languages by something like “It so happened that….”

A servant of the house of Saul: that is, of the family of Saul. In this context the word servant refers to a domestic servant of relatively high status. Verse 10 below indicates that this man himself had servants. And in view of the destruction of Saul’s household, this remaining servant appears to have been in charge of what was left of Saul’s inheritance.

Ziba is introduced to the reader for the first time and reappears in 16.1-4 and 19.16-30.

They called him: the subject pronoun has no antecedent and is merely a vague way of saying that some unknown person ordered him to appear before King David. The king had somehow made his thoughts known to members of his court, and someone who knew of Ziba’s existence responded by summoning him to appear before David. In languages that use the passive form in such a context, translators may choose to say “he was called….” In other cases it will be better to say “someone called him….”

Your servant is he: this is translated by “Yes, Your Majesty, I am” in Contemporary English Version. It can be made into indirect speech and may be much more natural as such in some languages. But the wording should somehow indicate that his response showed great respect for David and submission to his orders. This seems to be the purpose of the Good News Translation statement.

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 .