This account regarding Nahash the Ammonite is introduced abruptly in the Masoretic Text. See the comments on 10.27 concerning a variant text from Qumran, which provides an introduction to the beginning of chapter 11 and explains why King Nahash entered Jabesh-gilead. Regarding the words “About a month later” in Good News Translation, see the comments on the Masoretic Text at the end of 10.27, on “But he held his peace.”
This is the first appearance of Nahash in the Masoretic Text. His name in Hebrew means “serpent.” Fox has “Now Nahash/Snake the Ammonite.” Since he is not identified as the king of Ammon until 12.12, some common language translations move that information forward to this point (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Nahash appears again in 12.12; 2 Sam 10.2; 17.25, 27.
The Ammonite: the Ammonite kingdom was located northeast of the Dead Sea. The Ammonites and the Israelites were often in conflict throughout the centuries (see 2 Sam 10.1–11.1; 12.26-31). Their capital city was Rabbah, which is modern Amman in Jordan (see the comments on 2 Sam 10.8); it was strategically located about thirty-seven kilometers (twenty-three miles) northeast of the Dead Sea, where north-south and east-west trade routes crossed.
The men of Jabesh may possibly refer to the “inhabitants” (Bible en français courant) of the city without regard to their sex. If so, some may prefer to translate “the people of Jabesh” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). In this context, however, it seems quite probable that men only are intended, and for this reason New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Revised English Bible all say “men.”
Jabesh-gilead was the most northern Israelite village on the eastern side of the Jordan River, a little more than thirty-two kilometers (twenty miles) south of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) and about seventy kilometers (or forty-four miles) from Jerusalem. Located in the territory of Gilead, it is sometimes simply called Jabesh (verses 3, 5, 10; 31.12, 13). As written in Revised Standard Version, the name Jabesh-gilead may be confusing to the reader. The two names should not be written as one word, and it will probably be wise to use classifier terms for both: “the town of Jabesh in the region of Gilead.”
Make a treaty with us: literally “cut with us a covenant.” The same Hebrew expression occurs in 18.3; 22.8; 23.18; 2 Sam 3.12, 13, 21; 5.3. A treaty or a “covenant” is an agreement that two persons or groups of persons make in which both promise either to do or not to do certain things. In the ancient Near Eastern world of the Old Testament, animals were sacrificed and cut up as part of the covenant-making ceremony. From this comes the technical Hebrew phrase “to cut a covenant.”
We will serve you: the kind of service implied by this statement is that of people who recognize the authority of a ruler. This does not mean doing domestic work for Nahash or even becoming his slaves in the strict sense of the word. Many modern versions have “we will be your subjects” (Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).
If the direct quotation of this verse seems inappropriate in the receptor language, translators may consider the following model for the last part of this verse: “The people of Jabesh proposed to make a treaty with Nahash and become subject to his rule.”
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 .