26Saul went on one side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.
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)
In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.
In this verse, where English translates “Saul (went on one side),” the Tagalog translation translates “sina Saul” because the context of the text makes clear that Saul was with his men. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 23:26:
Kupsabiny: “As Saul and his people were on one side of the hill, David was with his (people) on the other side. As David was hurrying when (he) was fleeing from Saul, Saul also was close to capturing him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Saul and his men were around to one side of the hill and David and his men were around to the other side. Saul and his men having advanced, came close, but then David and his men would try to escape quickly. Saul and his men tried to catch them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Saul and his men (were) there on-the-other side of the mountain/hill, and David and his men on-the-other-hand (were) also on-the-other side of the mountain/hill hurrying to-get-away/to-flee from Saul. As Saul and his men (were) just near/close now to-reach David and his men,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Saul and his soldiers were walking along one side of the hill/peak, and David and his men were on the other side. David and his men were hurrying to escape from Saul’s soldiers, because Saul and his soldiers were coming much closer.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Saul went on one side: the Septuagint says “Saul and his men” and is followed by New Jerusalem Bible and Osty-Trinquet. For translation purposes the Septuagint may be followed here, since Saul certainly did not go alone.
The word rendered mountain is different from the word rendered “hill” in verse 19. The reference seems to be the “rock” mentioned in verse 25. Consistent with its translation “gorge” in verse 25, New American Bible says “As Saul moved along one rim of the gorge.”
And David was making haste: literally “And behold, David was making haste.” On the translation of “behold,” see page 18 and following. Here the focusing particle seems to highlight the haste with which David was moving in order to get away from Saul.
Were closing in upon David: the precise meaning of this verb is uncertain. All versions agree in general, however, that Saul and his men were somehow attempting to capture David and his men. Compare “were attempting to outflank David and his men” (New American Bible) or “were trying to cross over to David and his men’s side” (New Jerusalem Bible). Compare also Contemporary English Version, “were just about to capture David and his men.”
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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