The Hebrew text of this verse may be literally translated “and he said to teach the sons of Judah a bow. Behold it is recorded in the Book of Jashar.” This wording has been the subject of much discussion among scholars because of the reference to the “bow” and to the Book of Jashar. These matters will be discussed more fully in the following paragraphs.

Said: given the present context, the rather neutral verb said may be better translated “ordered” (Revised English Bible and New Revised Standard Version, as well as Good News Translation).

It: both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (also Anchor Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, and Reina-Valera revisada) follow the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament rather than the Hebrew text at this point. But, as indicated in the Good News Translation footnote, the Hebrew has the word “bow” in place of the pronoun here. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and recommends that it be followed. There are two ways in which the Masoretic Text may be understood:
(1) This word “bow” has been taken by many scholars as a reference to a specific title of a song that was to be taught to the people of Judah, possibly the lament itself. New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Contemporary English Version refer to “The Song of the Bow,” although New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh puts brackets around all the words except “bow,” since they are not in the original. New International Version speaks of “the lament of the bow.”
(2) Rather than understanding “the Bow” to be the name of a song, the Hebrew may be taken to mean that the lament, which is written in the Book of the Just, is to be sung in order to teach the people of Judah how to shoot the bow and arrow. The Israelites had been defeated by the Philistines, who had superior weapons (see 1 Sam 13.19-22). So David wants the Israelite people to make up for their military inferiority by teaching people archery. This interpretation, which perhaps best explains the Hebrew, is the basis for the New Jerusalem Bible translation, “(it is for teaching archery to the children of Judah; it is written in the Book of the Just).” Compare also King James Version: “(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher).”

Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates this verse as if the whole verse were a superscription such as one finds as musical superscriptions in some titles to the individual psalms. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “(For teaching to the sons of Judah. Bow. It is written in the book of the Just.)” See also Klein: “(For the instruction of the people of Judah. A Lament called ‘Bow.’ Derived from the Book of Jashar.)” This solution seems less convincing than either of the two interpretations in the two previous paragraphs.

Be taught: in languages that have no passive forms or where the passive would be unnatural in this context, it will be necessary to avoid such forms here. One possible solution is to say “he ordered the people of Judah to learn…” or “he ordered teachers to instruct the people of Judah….”

Behold: see the comments at verse 2.

It is written: where necessary, this passive may be avoided by using an indefinite third person plural pronoun: “they have written…” or “people can read it in….”

The Book of Jashar: this book, which was probably a collection of ancient war songs, is also referred to in Josh 10.13. The Hebrew word Jashar simply means “upright” or “just.” For some unknown reason most Protestant English versions have traditionally resisted translating the meaning of this word and have taken it as a name. French translations, on the other hand, have generally translated the meaning. Common language versions in Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and German also attempt to translate the meaning. Moffatt has “the Book of Heroes,” which is similar to the Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch rendering, and New Jerusalem Bible translates “the Book of the Just,” following the old Rheims-Douay Version. Translators should not feel obligated to perpetuate the English Protestant tradition by using what looks like a name. Rather it may be better to convey the meaning “just” or “upright.” Fox, for example, translates as “the Book of the Upright.”

He said: these words are not in Hebrew but have been added by the Revised Standard Version translators. In some languages it may be acceptable not to add these words, as in Good News Translation, since they may be considered a needless repetition. However, in other languages it will be essential to include them, since there is a great deal of parenthetical information between the initial “David lamented” in verse 17 and the beginning of the actual funeral song. In those languages that require a new verb phrase here, it may be better to say “He sang” to introduce the dirge. Others may introduce it by saying “The lament went like this….”

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 .