2Saul chose three thousand out of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Benjamin” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wolf,” referring to Genesis 49:27. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 13:2:
Kupsabiny: “One day, he chose three thousand men of war (soldiers), after that, he told all the remaining people (warriors) to return home. He divided those soldiers into two, one (group) of two thousand and another of one thousand. Saul with the two thousand soldiers were staying in Michmash on a hill near Bethel. But his big/elder son called Jonathan led the other one thousand. They went and stayed in Gibeah in the country allotted to the clan of Benjamin.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Saul selected 3,000 men and kept 2,000 of them with him in Micmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and he sent 1,000 with his son Jonathan into the area of the tribe of Benjamin. Then, as for the remaining men, he [them] sent back home.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Saul chose 3,000 men from Israel to-fight-against the Filistinhon. The ones (who) were- not -chosen he sent-home. He accompanied the 2,000 to Micmash and to the hills/mountains of Betel, and the 1,000 he had-accompany his child/(son) Jonatan to Gibea which was-part of Benjamin.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Several years after he became king, he chose three thousand men from the Israeli army to go with him to fight the Philistines. Then he sent the other soldiers back home. Of the men he chose, 2,000 stayed with Saul at Micmash and in the hilly area near Bethel, and 1,000 stayed with Saul’s son Jonathan at Gibeah, in the area where the descendants of Benjamin lived.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
The Hebrew leaves implicit the reason that Saul chose three thousand men, but the immediate context makes clear that these men are chosen to fight in Saul’s army. The context also seems to suggest that the three thousand make up Saul’s standing or active army. The rest of the people, whom he sent home, were reserve members of his army.
Three thousand men: this is probably a round number (see the comments on 24.2).
The wording of Revised Standard Version, using were with, may possibly be understood to be an explanation of where these soldiers were before they were selected by Saul for this mission. But this is certainly not the case. Rather, this is an explanation of where the troops were told to go after they were chosen. It is therefore probably better to supply the verbs “remained … [in Michmash]” and “went [to … Gibeah].”
Michmash: this town was located about twelve kilometers (about seven miles) north of Jerusalem and a few kilometers southeast of the city of Bethel. It was on the north bank of a steep valley that ran west from the Jordan Valley into the hill country.
Jonathan, Saul’s son, is mentioned here for the first time in 1 and 2 Samuel, but he is not identified as Saul’s son until verse 16. Good News Translation has moved this information to verse 2 from verse 16, since the original reader would have very likely known it already.
Gibe-ah was opposite Michmash on the south bank of the Wadi es-Swenit, which runs from the hill country of Palestine to the Jordan River (see the comment on 10.5 and comments regarding “Geba” below in verse 3). Together these two villages held military control over the valley.
The rest … he sent home, every man to his tent: Good News Translation omits every man …, since it expresses the same idea as sent home. Other ways of translating this may avoid the repetition of the Hebrew while maintaining the reference to tents. New Revised Standard Version says “the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.” The translation in New American Bible (“He sent the rest of the people back to their tents”) may not be a good model, since readers may not realize that returning to their tents means returning home.
In this context the rest of the people refers specifically to the reserve members of the army (as in verses 4, 6, 8, and frequently elsewhere). Translators may find New Century Version a helpful model: “Saul sent the other men in the army back home.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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