4Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and thrust me through and make sport of me.” But his armor-bearer was unwilling, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
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 Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 31:4:
Kupsabiny: “Saul told his servant who used to carry for him the weapons that, ‘Remove your sword and stab me to death. Uncircumcised men should not come and stab me and I become shamed.’ But that man was so afraid that he did not accept to stab Saul. Then, Saul removed his own sword and threw himself down on it.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Take out your sword and pierce me so that these, who do not obey God, who are not circumcised, may not slander and disgrace me." But the armor bearer did not agree because he was very terrified. He did not have the courage to do that. So Saul took his own sword and pierced (himself) with it and died.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Saul said to the one-who-carries his weapons-of-war, ‘Pull-out/draw your (sing.) sword and kill me, for if not, they who do- not -know God are the-(ones-who) will-kill me, and they will-mock/ridicule me.’ But the one-who-carries his weapons-of-war (was) afraid to-kill him, so Saul took his own sword, and stabbed himself/[lit. his own self].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Saul said to the man who was carrying his weapons, ‘Take out your sword and kill me with it, in order that these heathen Philistines will not be able to thrust their swords into me and make fun of me while I am dying.’ But the man who was carrying Saul’s weapons was terrified, and refused to do that. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. The sword pierced his body and he died.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
And thrust me through: some think that the Hebrew word translated and thrust me through was added to the Hebrew text to agree with the parallel text in 1 Chr 10.4. New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible omit these words here, but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends that the Masoretic Text be followed, since there is no textual support for the omission.
As in 14.6 (see the comment there), the Philistines are called these uncircumcised, which is intended as a very negative term. Compare Revised English Bible (“these uncircumcised brutes”) and Moffatt (“these uncircumcised creatures”). In Saul’s view, to be uncircumcised was to be without God, and this was certainly in his mind when he used this expression. It is for this reason that Good News Translation speaks of “those godless Philistines.”
Make sport of me: that is, “make fun of me” (New Jerusalem Bible, Contemporary English Version). This verb is also used in 6.6 and in Exo 10.2. In Judges 19.25 Revised Standard Version translates the same verb “abused.”
In languages where indirect discourse is preferred in this context, translators may consider the following model for what Saul said to his armor-bearer:
• He told the young man who carried his weapons to pull out his sword and kill him, because he did not want the godless Philistines to be able to make fun of him as they killed him.
But his armor-bearer would not; for he feared greatly: in some cases it will be more natural to restructure this part of the verse to say “But the young man was so frightened that he refused to do what Saul asked.”
That Saul fell upon his own sword does not mean that he accidentally fell on it. The context clearly shows that Saul intended to kill himself. Translations should therefore make it clear that what Saul did was an intentional act on his part.
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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