Far be it from me before my God that I should do this: Far be it from me is a strong form of denial (see also 1 Sam 2.30; 12.23; 20.9; 2 Sam 20.20). In other languages expressions of denial may have a very different form. Some may say “Never in my life” or “Not at all,” or they may use a threefold repetition of the word “no/never.” Several versions use an exclamation mark in an attempt to show how strong the whole denial is (so Good News Translation). Some alternative ways of wording it are “There is no way that I will do this” and “I cannot possibly drink this.” Revised English Bible retains the reference to God by saying “God forbid that I should do such a thing!” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). New Jerusalem Bible is quite similar with “God preserve me … from doing such a thing!” New Century Version translates in such a way as to make it explicit what the demonstrative pronoun this refers to by saying “May God keep me from drinking this water!”
Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it: When David asks the question Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? he is really making another extremely strong statement of something that he could not do. But even if the question is changed into an affirmative statement, there is still the matter of its figurative language that may be very misleading to some readers. David is not talking about literally drinking blood, but about drinking water that men had risked their lives to bring to him. Some translators may prefer to make the question into a comparison by saying “It would be like drinking the blood of these men which I cannot do.” Probably David poured out the water as a drink offering to God, but it is also possible that he understood the water as being like their blood, which the Law did not permit him to drink (Lev 17.10-14; Deut 12.16, 23-24).
Therefore he would not drink it: Therefore translates the common Hebrew conjunction, but such a rendering is appropriate in this context.
These things did the three mighty men: This last sentence of the verse is a summary statement about the three famous soldiers. For this reason some versions make it a separate paragraph (so Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Bible en français courant). These things refers not only to the immediately preceding account of the captured water, but also to the earlier mentioned events of verses 11-14. The idea is probably that these deeds were representative of the kinds of things that these men did. For this reason New American Bible translates this whole sentence as “Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.” In this context things may be rendered “exploits” (New International Version, New Living Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “brave deeds” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .